The electronic age makes almost everything possible. We no longer even need to leave the house to go shopping - provided we have a credit card.
A credit card is a simple and practical tool for booking flights and hotels or ordering goods online. There are many things you can no longer do on the Internet without a credit card. But it's not just the internet, car hire companies, for example, hardly work without a credit card.

Many people feel safer with a credit card than with cash on the street. If the cash is stolen, it's gone, the credit card can be cancelled immediately.

But it's not just the convenience and practical value of a credit card that makes it useful in modern life. It is increasingly becoming a financial saviour in times of need. In the past, you had to have reserves in case you suddenly needed expensive repairs. Nowadays, you can use a credit card for such cases. The credit card has become more than a status symbol, it has revolutionised the way we handle money.

Without going into the endless list of advantages and disadvantages of a credit card, we would like to clarify here what a credit card actually is so that the owner of such a card can utilise its full potential.

The credit card allows the cardholder to make purchases up to a limit set by the bank. The cardholder pays monthly instalments to gradually repay the borrowed money with interest. Depending on the agreement with the card issuer, the cardholder pays a minimum monthly amount, which he or she can exceed at will, until the borrowed amount has been repaid in full.

As is usual with all forms of credit, the cardholder pays more interest the longer it takes to repay.

The credit card requires a certain level of responsibility when handling money, which is why the cardholder must be of legal age.  

For people with a credit entry or those who are less good with money, there are so-called debit cards that work like credit cards but debit the desired amount immediately from the current account.

There are credit cards with a fixed annual fee and free cards. The free cards usually have a higher interest rate.

Nowadays it is relatively easy to get a credit card. The bank initially gives the new customer a low limit of €1000, for example. The bank monitors the customer's purchasing behaviour and if the customer is responsible and pays the set minimum amounts on time, the limit is usually increased quickly.