Overspending on Credit Cards!

Speaking | English & Chinese scripts are provided below and you can understand the content easier.

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Hi Christine, good afternoon! How’s it going?

It’s so great to catch up with you. How’s everything?

I’m good. I’m just back from Sydney for a business trip.

Are you enjoying the trip?

It’s been great. I’ve stayed behind and visited some of the unmissable attractions and landmarks. The seafood is incredibly well.

I haven’t got the chance to experience holiday. I’m fully occupied with my work.

Are you still working at the media agency?

Yes. I’ve got so many tasks. I always work overtime to prepare media plans for my clients. I feel so exhausted.

Many companies are now willing to increase the budget of digital marketing. That’s why you’re terribly busy.

Yes. People got used to work from home during the pandemic. My boss is expecting the employees to work after office hours now.

Pushing the employees too hard for too long will unavoidably affect work-life balance. Please try to recharge yourself during weekend.

The prolonged stress at the workplace is sometimes causing me burnout.

You should take some breaks if you’ve worked too long.

During weekend, I go for shopping because it can help relieve my stress.

Are you sure? I think that there are plenty of work-arounds to energize your mind instead of shopping.

I was filled up with joy and satisfaction during online shopping.

Good heavens! You should try not to get into the habit of shopping driven by the pressure. It’s not the right approach to solve your problem.

You may be surprised that I even spent more when I was promoted three months ago.

Oh my god!. I bet you that you’ll encounter a big problem.

I do not know why I’ve strong desire of showing my social status. I guessed that I’m feeling so tense after taking more responsibilities after promotion. My credit cards’ limits were nearly used up.

No way! Are you aware of the high interest rate of the credit cards?

Yes. However, I could not control myself when making those impulsive shopping decisions.

You should carefully manage your credit cards. It would cause high finance charge if you only pay for the minimum balance each month.

I did not pay for the full amount. How’s the calculation of interest?

If you pay for the minimum balance or make partial repayment, new spending will immediately be charged for the interest rate.

You mean whenever I cannot pay for the full payment, banks will start calculating the interest of the new spending on the same day.

Of course. Many people are still not very clear of the severity and impact. It will rack up unnecessary high interest.

I confess that I cannot manage the payment well.

As you’re busy with your work, it’s not an odd issue for missing the due date of each credit card. Moreover, we sometimes bind our credit cards with different mobile wallets. Purchase can be completed seamlessly and instantly without carrying cash and physical credit cards. We may not have a clear picture of the overall expense in a month.

If you cannot systematically record the details of expense, you may get blurred and confused of how much you’ve spent. Some banks have provided a tool for tracking the spending and expense automatically at mobile banking. It can not only save your time of entering transaction records but also give a clearer picture of the categories of your spending.

By the way, are you holding more than one credit card?

Yes. I got five credit cards. It’s so easy to get the approval and I was attracted by the welcome gifts of the banks.

Come on! There’s no such thing as a free lunch. In order to be qualified with the gift, you should achieve certain spending.

You’re right. I also found that the spending was not a must.

Please do not fall into the trap of such gimmick. The objective of the banks is to attract customer holding the first credit card with them. Next, they can sell other banking services and generate more profitable incomes from those customers in the long run.

You should be cautious about the due date of repayment for each credit card.

I’m aware of the late charge for overdue payment. As I’ve a bad memory, I sometimes miss the due date.

If you withdraw the cash from your credit card through ATM for settling the payment, it’ll be another disaster.

Is it a cash advance transaction?

No doubt. Banks will charge a very high interest rate on cash advance.

I understood. The debt will be accumulated with the high interest rate.

If you cannot repay your debt on time, your credit score will also be lowered. It may be difficult for you to apply for different loans e.g., mortgage and car in the future. Or you cannot be offered with the best interest rate for such lending.

Making the payment on time and refraining from more debt are both important. If not, it’ll become debt snowball that you cannot pay off your debt. Consequently, you may need to arrange debt consolidation or even go for bankruptcy.

Please follow my advice. First, please immediately make full payment of your outstanding balance. Next, please close some credit cards and keep one only. Finally, please go for hiking with me during weekend. I’m sure that you can relieve your stress and anxiety.

Did you hear about sustainable living?

I’ve no idea of it. Is it related to minimalism?

It’s a new trend of lifestyle. We sometimes purchase things that we hardly use. Hence, we should buy less and consume less for protecting environment.

It’s cool. I take your point. I sometimes throw lot of things away.

There are increasing fraudulent use of credit cards for online shopping. The more credit cards you hold, the higher your cards are at risk.

I appreciate your suggestion. I’ll remind myself and take action now.

Please do not overspend on your credit card again. It’s a bottomless pit and will bring you so much troubles.

Thanks for your fruitful advice. Let’s catch up later.

WITH CHINESE SCRIPT

嗨，克里斯汀，下午好！最近好嗎？

能與您見面真是太好了，最近怎麼樣？

我很好，我剛從悉尼出差回來。

您喜歡這次旅行嗎？

太棒了，我留下來參觀了一些不容錯過的景點和地標，海鮮非常好吃。

我沒有機會放假，我完全忙於我的工作。

您還在媒體公司工作嗎？

是的，我有很多工作，總是加班加點為我的客戶準備媒體策劃，我覺得好累。

許多公司現在願意增加數碼營銷的預算，這就是為什麼您非常忙。

是的，在大流行期間，人們習慣了在家工作，我的老闆現在希望員工在下班後工作。

對員工長期施壓將無可避免地影響工作與生活的平衡，請盡量在周末給自己充電。

工作場所長期的壓力有時會讓我精疲力盡。

如果您工作時間太長，應該休息一下。

在周末，我去購物，因為它可以幫助緩解我的壓力。

您確定嗎？我認為有很多變通辦法，可以代替購物來令您精力充沛。

網購的過程中，我充滿了喜悅和滿足。

我的媽呀！您應該盡量不要養成迫於壓力下而購物的習慣，這不是解決問題的正確方法。

您可能會驚訝，我三個月前升職開始花得更多。

我的天啊！我打賭您會遇到一個大問題。

我不知道為什麼我有強烈的慾望炫耀自己的社會地位，估計是升職後承擔了更多的責任，心情很緊張吧，我的信用卡額度幾乎用完了。

不會吧！您知道信用卡的高利率嗎？

知道，但在做出那些衝動的購物決定時，我無法控制自己。

您應該謹慎管理您的信用卡，如您每個月只支付最低餘額，將會產生高昂的財務費用。

我沒有繳付全款，利息是怎麼計算的？

如您支付最低餘額或部分還款，新的支出將立即收取利息。

您的意思是每當我無法支付全額款項時，銀行會在同一天開始計算新支出的利息。

當然，很多人還不是很清楚其嚴重程度和影響，它會引起不必要的高利息。

我承認我無法很好地管理付款。

由於您工作繁忙，錯過每張信用卡的到期日並不奇怪，此外，我們有時會將信用卡與不同的手機錢包綁定，無需攜帶現金和實體信用卡，即可無縫及即時地完成購買，我們可能無法清楚地了解一個月內的總體支出情況。

如您不能有系統地記錄費用的詳細信息，可能會對自己花了多少錢感到模糊和困惑。部份銀行提供了一種工具，用於在手機銀行自動跟踪支出和費用，不僅可以節省您輸入交易記錄的時間，還可以更清楚地了解您的支出類別。

順便問一下，您是否持有不止一張信用卡？

是的，我有五張信用卡，信用卡獲批太容易了，我被銀行的迎新禮物所吸引。

拜託！天下沒有免費的午餐，為了可符合獲得禮物的資格，您應該達到一定的花費。

您說得對，我還發現支出不是必須的。

請不要落入這種噱頭的陷阱，銀行的目標是吸引持有第一張信用卡的客戶，接下來，他們可以銷售其他銀行服務，長遠從這些客戶獲得更多利潤。

您應該注意每張信用卡的還款到期日。

我知道逾期付款的費用，由於我記性不好，有時會錯過到期日

如果您通過自動櫃員機從信用卡中提取現金來支付信用卡費用，那將是另一場災難。

是屬透支現金的交易嗎？

毫無疑問，銀行將對透支現金收取非常高的利率。

我明白了，債務將以高利率累積。

如您不能按時償還債務，您的信用評分也會降低，將來可能很難申請不同的貸款，例如按揭和汽車貸款，或您無法獲得此類貸款的最優惠利率。

按時付款和避免更多債務都很重要，否則，它會變成不停滾雪球的債務，您無法還清債務，結果，您可能需要安排債務合併重組，甚至破產。

請聽從我的建議，首先，請立即全額支付您的未結餘額，接下來，請取消一些信用卡，只保留一張，最後，請在周末和我一起去遠足，我相信您可以減輕壓力和焦慮。

您聽說過可持續性的生活嗎？

我不知道，它與極簡主義有關嗎？

這是一種新的生活方式，我們有時會購買我們幾乎不使用的東西，因此，為了保護環境，我們應該少買少消費。

這很酷，我同意您的觀點，我有時會扔掉很多東西。

使用信用卡進行網上購物的欺詐行為越來越多，您持有的信用卡越多，您面對的的信用卡風險就越高。

感謝您的建議，我會提醒自己並立即行動。

請不要再次超支您的信用卡，這是一個無底洞，會給您帶來很多麻煩。

感謝您富有成效的建議，我們稍後再談。