Would the world have been better off financially without any consumer credit cards whatsoever? Imagine, a world without consumer credit.
At one time we didn't have credit cards. We paid for what we purchased or didn't get it. When credit cards came into vogue then people began buying things that they could not afford. We pay a very big price for using credit cards. It is difficult to get into financial difficulty when you pay cash. You can also live on much less money when you are not paying interest. Retailers add the cost of using credit cards to their products. Credit card issuers charge retailers on average about 2-5% of each purchase. That is a sizable amount of money over the course of a year. And when you use a debit card there is also a charge for that as well. There is no charge for using cash. I think it would be better for us to only use cash or barter for what we want and need. When we use credit cards we often purchase items we really don't need. It take more effort to count out the cash. It also gives us an opportunity to think about the purchase.
Well, look at this way…

If credit was not exist at all, then that means every transaction you'd make or would make would be done in cash. Fair enough?

Not every consumer has cash readily available. so to facilitate the lack of cash situation, credit came into the picture.

Realistically speaking, without credit. How could you buy a house worth $400,000. or any dollar amount in that prespective.

You'd have to have some serious cash flow in order to not need credit whatsoever. something that is possible for a few but not the whole nation.

So in my opinion. No..without credit our society would be in deeper trouble. and to be honest.. if consumers have lack of knowledge of credit and it's process and they're extravagant by nature..I don't see a reason how banks are to be blamed if a consumer defaults….. they've made cash available to faciliate money to be circulated.. and if consumers absolutely rely on credit then that again is their fault.

Responsible use of anything can't go wrong.
Probably without but no by much.

Amassing debt and living beyond ones means has never been a problem in the US, don't know about the world but I suspect others countries aren't that much different. Before there were consumer credit cards, there were loan companies where people could go get a short term loan with very high interest rates and make monthly and sometimes weekly payments. People also borrowed money from their employers and their relatives as another way to live beyond their means. Also, instead of charging ones purchase to a credit card people had charge accounts with individual merchants…the grocery store, the pharmacy, the furniture store, the department store…etc. Then slowly but surely all this small time spread out debt was replaced by credit cards which allowed consumers to spend even more without anyone in the neighborhood knowing…until they were all in the same boat.

I just don't see it as all that different except now that we have consumer credit cards the companies extending the credit really has no idea who they are lending money to whereas when everything was done on a more local level people knew when to stop extending credit.

The problem that credit cards is being blamed for is not new, it was just allowed to get out of hand. All the people will never learn to live on cash, never did, never will.

That's just one opinion and we all know about those but you have to admit there are some valid point to the argument put forth.
No consumer credit - spend only what you can afford - economy will not expand artificially — no doubt it will be a better world.

FYI - in Islam interest is disallowed - scholars have developed Islamic financial tools. Countries that are heavily using Islamic financing methods are much better off in the current recession. Economists from UK and other so-called developed countries are trying to study "Islamic modes of financing", however such efforts are not propogated for obvious reasons.
consumer credit cards isn't a bad thing.I never use mine unless it's to stay at hotels or during online purchasing. I bought $3000 worth of plane tickets on my mastercard and the plane company went backrupt the NEXT day. Mastercard refunded it all, no questions asked. I will never say anything bad about a credit card company again.
the world got along fine without them for a very long time. theres probably always been some types of credit but credit cards were a stupid idea. though it was good for the banks that made ungodly amounts of money by charging ungodly interest rates. far as the average consumer goes if the cards had been used only for emergencies and then paid off as soon as possible things would have been better. you know your in trouble if you use a card to buy food and have to pay 30% interest for it.
I don't think so! If you increase your financial knowledge then you will see how powerful these credit cards can do for you. Did you ever see someone who buy a house without any dollar out of pocket? All they did were to use the bank's money and then flip the house with in a few days to make thousands of dollar? This is an example of how to increase your financial knowledge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgeTpvKMzPs

(714) 699-8844
Without credit cards, yes. Who in their right mind wants to pay 20, 25, 29% interest???
I think so.
yeah