Do you mindlessly swipe your credit card all the time? Or are you simply curious about them? Then this article is for you!
There are enough credit cards in the world to circle planet Earth at least three and a half times. In 2013, there were 1.635 billion credit cards in the world, split by Visa, MasterCard, and American Express (in order of most cards to least).
Credit cards technically don’t expire. Even though there is an expiration date on the card, this date technically serves two different purposes by “expiring.” One purpose is to provide a date for the credit card issuer to send you a new physical card. Another purpose is to verify that you are in physical possession of the card when using it online. The actual credit doesn’t expire with the expiration date!
Credit cards work on the idea of loaning and borrowing money. When you make a credit card purchase, the bank will pay for the expense. Then, at the end of the month, you have to make a payment towards your credit card bill, which is a sum of all your purchases made with that credit card that month.
There are many credit card brands out there. The most popular is Visa, followed by MasterCard, which are generally both accepted at almost every location accepting credit. Others such as American Express and Discover are less popular options that came a little later, but they’re still used by millions.
If a credit card bill is left unpaid, then when the next monthly credit bill comes, interest will incur from the previous month’s bill. Credit can easily become a trap that way and debt increases. This is why credit spending should ideally be kept in parameters of your debit account balance.
When opening a new line of credit by opening a new credit card, companies look at your credit score and reports. Therefore, it’s important to have good credit if you want to open a credit card. Not everyone is eligible for a credit card.
The average American has 3.7 credit cards, when only counting people who have at least one credit card. This excludes 29% of Americans that don’t have a credit card. Statistics also show that people who have a desirable FICO credit score of 800+ have more than 3.7 credit cards- they actually have about 10.
