Of course, credit card is a smart substitute for cash. In today’s fast-paced scenario, who would like to carry cash? It’s easier to carry a handful of credit cards and swipe whenever needed. Life was slow and laidback without credit cards. People waited for their pay-package to come by at the end of the month and then made a budget for expenses. You bought things, you had money for or you deferred it for sometime later. But now, it’s a completely different picture.

With your credit card, you don’t need to wait for a pay cheque to go for shopping, nor you need to worry about how much you are left with in your bank account. You simply splurge and how!

However, with growing debt recently, it’s not really an inviting prospect to depend on credit cards for expenses. There have been cases where people have just put everything on stake for the sake of credit card debt. That’s really a grim scenario, which is not easy to escape.

For the last few years, India has become retail lenders delight with its growing fascination for spending. Indian economy has been on a rise, people have raised their standard of living but as far as the present economic gloom is concerned, debt would take over consumers’ happiness. Interest rates are on a rise too, which would discourage consumers to buy new stuff.

Reportedly, consumer credit growth last year dipped to 17.4% from 21.4% in 2007. Whether it’s housing loan, consumer durables or vehicle sales, everything has borne the brunt of increasing debt.

Happy days are history now with global financial slowdown and decreasing consumerism. Banks and companies simply went berserk with offering low interest rates and various deals to lure customers. People also went overboard with credit usage, which has led to debt and lack of buyers.

Paying off debt has become a major concern now for not only consumers but also for the whole economy. Consumers are investors too and if an individual is overburdened with credit-debt, he would not be motivated to invest, which would eventually affect the entire financial system.

Therefore, curbing and easing out debt is the need of the hour.