Upon the third time I visited the same store and was again, for the third time, stopped to ask whether I want to apply for an in-store credit card I decided let’s see how easy it is to get this instore credit card.
So we go through the motions of the application which takes about 10 minutes and I was told I will receive an email to confirm whether I have been approved and for how much.
Low and behold, the next morning the email arrives. I qualify for R40 000 instore credit with this store. How ridiculous! All I have to do is create a pin and voila – I am in debt the first time I swipe that card. To top it all, you can’t even reply to the email to let them know that on second thought, thank you but no thank you.
Do these stores realise how difficult things are out there for people and that this is just another way of getting people deeper into financial trouble? Some people may feel they will get take the opportunity just in case and then just maybe, a month down the line the financial pinch is a little tighter and they start using this credit card. Then it is already too late.
These instore credit cards are opening a whole new type of can of worms that only bring more heartache to some people than do them any good.
You will get people who are starting to feel the pinch and who will accept that credit card. People who will go and buy on that credit card because there really is a need and why not? After all, they were approved. They will be ok with the repayments – until such time that the pinch is far more than a pinch.
Should big stores not have another way of ‘offering help’, or ‘to make buying so much easier and more convenient’? This sure won’t be helping people. This is a minefield people are entering into.
I beg with shoppers to please think twice before agreeing to take in-store credit cards – think twice about where this might land you financially in a month or two from now.
No thanks to credit
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Help my soek na Terence asseblief
Thanking everyone who reached out to JP Enslin
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