How to Quickly Ruin Your Credit with an HSBC Credit Card

HSBC

One of the biggest misconceptions about credit cards is that they can put you into debt. It’s not true. Credit cards do not cause people to go into debt; people cause people to go into debt. The real question is this; with so many people so familiar with exactly how you go into debt, how is it possible that so many people do max out their credit cards and end up owing thousands of dollars to creditors? It’s simple; people don’t even realize they’re doing it. They’re not taught how to use a credit card and how to avoid debt. Most importantly, they’re not taught that their spending habits will come back to haunt them.

It would be a great idea if high schools around the world had classes that taught students to balance their checkbooks, use credit cards and budget, but they don’t. And not all teens belong to parents who are willing to teach them the value of a dollar, whether they make it a habit to live on credit themselves or they give their kids whatever they want and choose not to teach them the value of a dollar. Either way, applying for an HSBC credit card is not going to send you spiraling into debt – unless you let it. Here are three quick and easy ways you can go into debt with an HSBC credit card.

Max it Out

You have a $5000 limit, so let’s go shopping! Don’t you want those Louboutins you’re minimum wage, part-time job while you’re in college doesn’t afford you? Then buy them! Vacation for spring break in Jamaica? Yes! Book a ticket right now. You have $5000; you can buy whatever you want! Except you can’t, because this is not free money. You cannot max out your card because it’s hard to recover from that.

Make the Minimum Payment

Now that we’ve maxed out that $5000 credit limit, let’s go ahead and let’s make only the minimum payment each month. Why pay it off? If you don’t have the money, you can’t, but it’s no big deal because they only want you to pay a very little amount every month. Totally cool. You just went to Jamaica for a week and it’s only costing you $30 a month. Just remember; in 5 years you will still be paying for that trip to Jamaica you took a long time ago.

Skip a Few Payments

All right, now it’s Christmas and you have to buy gifts. You have nothing left on your credit card, and funds are tight. Why not skip this payment and next month’s payment so you can buy more gifts? That’s cool, right? Wrong. You can’t do that! As if maxing out your credit card and making only the minimum payment isn’t bad enough, now you have late fees to pay and the credit bureau will be notified of your late payment status, which  means that you will take a hit on your credit.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images

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