Archive for the ‘Bookkeeping’ Category
Credit Cards – Will They Ever Be Old-Fashioned?
Entrenched in the imagery of the 1980s, credit cards have usually been associated with high-living, hip young yuppies, eager to spend, spend, spend, or obtaining credit for business ventures. But as the convention of paying by plastic has become the norm, the financial realities of the present decade suggest that this once-cool practice will soon be overrun by an influx of elderly users.
The main reason for this: the decline of cheques. Overall usage of cheques has fallen by around 40%, as people have turned to online payments and begun relying more heavily on cards. The Payments Council has proposed an official end of the current cheque clearing system for 2018, forcing people who might otherwise be stuck in their ways to look for alternatives to their current banking practices.
Age Concern and Help the Aged, the UK’s two largest charities devoted to helping the aged have been especially vocal in pointing out how these changes will initially prove disadvantageous to older people. 4 million cheques are still written every day, so even with a steady reduction in the number of cheque-users, the ramifications from their total abolition will be startling.
The major concern with older people not being able to pay by cheque is that they will be more susceptible to major frauds. While forged cheques are unlikely without major effort, credit card fraud is as simple as a scammer getting hold of a stray card-number. As the elderly are less likely to understand phishing, viruses or other internet perils, they are at more at risk when making online purchases.
But, more alarmingly, 6.4 million of the over-65 population in the United Kingdom have still never used to the internet once. If they remain reluctant (or simply cannot afford it in their homes and have no way to safely access it on their own), they may be forced to hoard sums of cash at home, as simply travelling to the bank would prove cumbersome. And this would make them at even greater risk of burglaries, giving them no way to look after their finances despite having been saving for so many years.
Ultimately, this should not be considered a bad thing, as it will educate older members of the public to learn how to best manage their finances. With the numerous reward credit cards, a conservative shopper who always pays their bills on time could reap healthy benefits from signing up for several credit-card plans. While it might be scary to switch to a new method of dealing with everyday necessities, the rewards can be plentiful, no matter your age.
