Credit card debts: Causes and preventions

Hi, everyone. I am here to write a blog about credit card debts. There are many causes for credit card debts. The first cause is credit card holders do not repay the minimum payment required. As a consequence, missed payments may result in refusal of credit cards at retailers until the payment is cleared. Additionally, it will affect the credit rating of the holders. The second cause is credit card holders keep on spending and spending by using credit cards without any hestitation. As we know, spending on credit card is borrowing money and it must be repaid at some point. If the holders failed to made the payments in times, the amount they spent will be accumulated and thereafter, it will become the holders' credit card debts.

However, there are a few ways to avoid or prevent credit card debts. Those ways are as follow:

1)Use credit card only as your temporary measure, not lifestyle.
2)Pay off high rate debt first.
3)Avoid cash advances.
4)Do not use more than eight cards at one time.
5)Pay off your balance each month.
6)Try to get online account access.
7)Choose a lower limit of credit cards.

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency is also known as electronic money, electronic cash, digital money and else. It refers to money which exchanged only electronically. One of the relevant systems is called BitPass. BitPass is a prepaid account that allows everyone purchases digital content and services. It was a California corporation with headquarter in Silicon Valley and founded in December, 2002.

It was partnered with few major technology and financial companies such as Microsoft, PayPal and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Content buyer signed up for the service and put money into an account by using credit card or PayPal, and this stored-value amount could be used to purchase digital content or services.

On 19^th January, 2007 BitPass have sent mass of email to announce that they were shut down and operation officially closed on 26^th January. Any unspent monies should be spent within 7 days period. Later on, the remaining unspent monies were refunded by its partner, Digital River to respective account holder.

Although BitPass did not announce the reason, we normally presumed that it was due to cash flow problem. We noticed that BitPass has invested 13 million in 2004 but their business model had few takers only and its transaction volume never ramped to sustainable levels.

Referred link:

1.Wiki - BitPass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitpass)

2.BitPass.Dead Pool. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/19/bitpass-deadpool/)

The application of prepaid cash card for consumers

A Cash Card enables the holder to make purchases and have them deducted from the card's available balance. Prepaid cash cards are considered the most secure and safe financial transaction card. A cash card may be branded with a major credit card issuer's logo, such as American Express, VISA, or MasterCard, which enables the holder to make purchases wherever those cards are accepted. Cash cards may be convenient for the card holder, the real benefit belongs to the card issuer. It is because the cards are pre-paid, the issuer gets immediate use of all the money that was used to fund the card, even if the cardholder takes months to spend it all.


Touch n Go is one of the prepaid cash card as the sole electronic payment system (EPS). It is can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park. The Touch n Go systems are designed to process up to 800 vehicles per hour so that the user no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction. By using this card it is much more convenient for the user.

The Octopus card which was used in Hong Kong is much more similar to Touch n Go card. However the Touch n Go card can only be used in certain areas, compare to Octopus card it can be used in restaurants, convenience stores such as 7-11, Circle K, supermarkets, fast food outlets and even public telephone booths. Most of the Hongkies are using this card because its user friendly.

Usage of prepaid cash card in other countries it's quite popular for example Singaporeans are using EZ-Link cards and as in India they are using Itzcash cards. Due to convenience, the people may not need to carry a lot of cash when they hang out because it’s quite bulky and it may not attract thieves. No interest should be paid by using prepaid cash card compare to credit cards. It can also control the overspending of consumers because it is a top up card. Unlike credit cards, a particular person can owns unlimited cards. How are they going to settle the credit cards bills?

References :

http://www.touchngo.com.my/

http://www.octopuscards.com/consumer/en/index.jsp

http://www.ezlink.com.sg/

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia : its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

Mobile payment system is not quite well known in Malaysia. Perhaps, I also first time get to know this term. According to the definition from wikipedia, mobile payment is the collection of money from a consumer through a mobile device such as mobile phone, smartPhone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Through this system, we can sms the mobile money to anyone at anytime in anywhere. This system can bring a lot of benefits to everyone especially those who seldom or rarely go out.

As nowadays the petrol price is keeping on increase, the transportation cost will increase directly. Therefore it would be very troublesome and costly if we need to go to the nearest bank to have any transaction. In order to reduce those unnecessary works, this type of payment is introduced. Therefore in the moment where the petrol price is keeping increase, the mobile payment system will become more popular and being used. This reveals that this system has a very bright prospect in the future. Currently, Celcom is providing the mobile payment service in Malaysia. For further detail information about mobile payment service provided by Celcom, you all can go to the webpage of Celcom to ask for further information. Besides that, you all can click on the link below to understand or know more about the mobile payment available in Malaysia that is MM Wallet.
-http://www.mobile-money.com/

In order for more people practice mobile payment system in Malaysia, there should be more companies in Malaysia that can accept the mobile payment. Furthermore, the service provided should be ensured that the system is very secure and everyone can use the system without having any doubts or worry of the security problem. Other than that, this new type of payment system should be introduced to the public by using all types of media. This will be the fastest way to notify the citizens about the new and efficient payment system that is available.

Reference:

Electronic Commerce: From Vision To Fulfillment-Awad, E. M. (2007)

E-Business and E-Commerce Management-Chaffey, D. (2007)

-http://www.mobile-money.com/

http://www.mobileinfo.com/Mcommerce/payment_Systems.htm