Essay, Research Paper: Plastic

My Plastic
Last summer was the first time that I had an official job. I use the words official job because I had to arrive at work for a certain time, work so many hours a week and finally had to pay taxes. I made my fair share of money that summer and I spent a great deal of it. The money was deposited directly into my bank account, and for reasons of convenience, I got a debit card. That would prove to be a mistake. Banking cards are nothing more than a drain on an individual s wallet because fees, the possibility of fraud and finally an increase in spending accompany all the banking cards.
Firstly, all banking cards have some sort of fees. These fees range from usage fees to very expensive late charges on credit cards. From the beginning, I have been subject to these fees. Every time I used my card at a different bank or use it to purchase something, the bank charged me some small fee, which they consider insignificant when compared to the overall convenience of the card. Since summer, they seized approximately thirty dollars from my account because of these fees. If you think like the banks, you believe this to be a nominal amount. However, over a period of a lifetime or even a few years these charges would indeed approach a considerably amount. I thought that my debit card would be a convenience, yet it has turned into a drain on my finances.
Secondly, in today s world credit card and debit card fraud is found throughout society. In a mere hour, all of your hard earned money can be stolen without you even being aware of it. Today s high tech society has made it possible for criminals to make a copy of your card and use cameras to record your pin number. Luckily, this has not happened to me and I hope that it never will. However, my father was not so fortunate. During are trip to Florida my father s credit card was copied and later sold to some individuals in Quebec. They charged a total of thirteen thousand dollars to the credit card before they were discovered. Luckily, the bank covered the costs because the individuals pleaded guilty. Its situations like that which make me wonder if I should destroy my debit card.
Lastly and most importantly, since the acquisition of my debit card I have noticed an increase of one thousand percent in my spending habits. I have seen my hard earned money disappear at an ever increasing rate. Every time I venture into town, I seem to return home with something. It s not that I don t have any will power but rather it s more as if I am unaware that I am spending money. When I have cash I give a second thought before spending it however, it s a different story when I use a debit card. For some subconscious reason when I purchase items with my debit card I don t relate it with cash but rather something that merely has a number recorded on it. For this reason I m now stuck with a room full of useless items.
In conclusion, banking cards are suppose to make are lives easier. However, the opposite seems to occur. Debit cards, credit cards and various other plastic banking cards have actually complicated are lives. You now have to worry about late charges, over charging and various other fees associated with banking cards. Fraud and finally the increase in spending due to the inability to relate plastic cards with cash or the convenience of always having cash with you are also negative effects of these cards. My banking card is nothing more than an evil little piece of plastic, which seems to make me spend more money than I really want to.