I recently helped my mom order a new computer.
She hasn’t owned a computer in about 10 years, mostly out of a protest against techonolgy. But now she’s realizing that she’s tired of coming over to my house to order things online for her. And those days of getting dozens of mail-order catalogs in the mail are drawing to a close.
So I helped her order a MacBook (I’m so jealous!) approximately a half day after the iPad went on sale.
Let’s just say that the Apple website was a wee bit slow during the transaction, and we had plenty of time to stare at each page during the check-out process.
I was really floored at the option Apple gave us at check-out: “Pay with two credit cards.”
What?! Two credit cards? I sat and thought about this for a long time, and I can’t think of a single situation in which it would be okay to use two credit cards. Maybe… I could understand it if you were paying with a debit card and a credit card or a gift card and another card. But two credit cards? Scary.
I get the lure of new technology. It’s nice to get new shiny gadgets to play with and be the envy of your friends.
But in my opinion, it’s much better to live within your means. If you have to use two credit cards to pay for anything, you are on a dangerous path.
Keep your cards in your wallet. Ask yourself if a few minutes of gadget bliss is worth years of debt. I bet you’ll find out it’s not.
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{ 6 comments }
I think they use the term 'credit card' to also mean debit/gift card. I use my visa/debit card all of the time and I always enter it as a credit card. I know that sometimes I DO use two different forms of payment…my debit/credit card and a gift card (AmEx, etc.) which would ALSO be considered a credit card.
I agree. At Target when you check out using a debit/credit card it always asks if you want to put the whole amount on that one card. If you can't afford it with one, you definitely can't afford it with two!
Dell gives the same multiple ways to pay option, and has for probably 10 years. I was really floored when I first saw that, but realized it made good business sense for them. The consumer who needs it obviously shouldn't be buying a new computer, but it's not the business's responsibility to ensure the consumer lives within their means. And so … we end up in the current economic crisis!
I think you all are missing the point of two forms of payment. As the other poster said, in order to use a debit card (processed as a credit card) and a gift card, or an actual credit card, it has to accept more than one 'credit card'. Or why if someone wants to share the cost? This enables a parent to pay for half of something, for instance. Many people use cc religiously to accumulate rewards and would prefer to use a cc rather than giving $ to person they are sharing purchase with. I, personally have used a debit card (cash) and a gift card. How could I have done that if the merchant didn't accept more than one cc for payment?
I guess my hang-up is with the wording: "Pay with two credit cards." I think it encourages a bad practice.
I know that at Target stores, they say "Would you like to pay another way?" and I think that covers more situations… like sharing the cost of a purchase with someone or using a gift card.
I also think that unless your debit card has protections on it, it's dangerous to use a debit card online. If your debit card number is stolen, thieves can empty your account rather quickly.
I definitely get what you're saying. However, the first thing that I thought of is if you're splitting the cost with someone else. Like, if a family member or a friend or someone will give you like $500 toward a computer and you pay the rest. I really doubt that's the case with most people doing using this option, though.
My other thought is that maybe their credit cards have no balance, but not a high enough limit to buy on one… probably still not the best choice, but not as bad as the girl in Confessions of a Shopaholic using several cards and some cash to buy a scarf ;)
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