Will That Be Cash or Charge?

By Elton Camp

Credit cards would be hard to do without

At certain times, we must pull them out

As when a hotel room we need to reserve

“You have no credit card?  Why the nerve.”

If we lack a credit card, we won’t get far

When it comes time to pay for a rental car

“I am sorry, but cash we now refuse to take.

Even to think that is a big financial mistake.”

Use a credit card and learn the item’s no good?

Gives power to make the seller do as he should

To carry big wads of cash also isn’t very wise

It can make us targets in some robber’s eyes

When cash is stolen, it is simply forever gone

A credit card can be cancelled over the phone

Who can know when an emergency may arise

If it does, a credit card out of such trouble buys

Yet, plastic can devastate our financial health

It can give us the illusion of unlimited wealth

We could forget that what we charge today

At some later date, we will be required to pay

Another thing we will certainly come to hate

The very large extra charge if payment is late

Finance charges can exceed twenty percent

Then we wonder just where our money went

Total owed can become an alarming amount

Paying just the minimum will hardly count

If so, what we unwisely have charged today

Will still be paying when we’re old and gray