The credit card situation is very different between Canada and Japan. I would be surprised to see the account details from the credit card company when I had the first credit card in Vancouver. A strange figure was printed in the debit column as "purchase interest". It wasn't a small number but I couldn't find a clear basis for it. In Japan, Every credit card account is related to the holder's bank account and the total amount paid with the card in a month is to be automatically withdrawn from the bank account in the next month. This is the most common credit card system in Japan and we usually don't have to pay additional fee such as "purchase interest." Of course we have to prepare enough money in our bank account so that the automatic payment is done successfully on the due date, or our credit card account would be stopped until all the debit is paid. On the other hand in Canada, the credit account and the bank account are not always related each other. We have to pay the credit bill manually every month. What is different than Japan is that we don't have to pay all the amount in the month; if you spend $100 with a credit card in a month and you don't have $100 on the due date, you only have to pay $10. The remaining $90 can be paid later with some interest. It seems more convenient and flexible, but there is a big trap here. The interest is extremely high. In most cases, the shopping interest is just the same as the cashing loan interest, and if you forgot to pay the credit bill by the due date, which can easily happen, you have to pay the additional high interest. What a dangerous trap!
If you think the Canadian credit card companies are setting "traps", the American companies are absolutely the worst, hands down!
Posted by: shun chu | March 15, 2007 at 12:49 PM