Cash or Credit?/¿De Contado o a Crédito?¹

Nayda I. Torres and Mary N. Harrison²

Disadvantages and Advantages of Using Credit

To pay cash or to use credit is a choice you have to make each time you buy. There are many good points as well as bad points to using credit. The disadvantages are:

Credit costs money. You pay extra for the item you are buying because of the finance charges.
You are spending future income. You are living on money you expect to have in the future. If you lose your job or become ill, this could cause a problem.
You may overspend. It is easy to do this when the bills don't come for a month.

The advantages of using credit are:

You can get goods and services before paying for them.
You can use credit to take care of emergencies.
You don't need to carry large amounts of cash.

Before You Decide

Before you decide to use credit:

Ask yourself:
- Do you really need the item, or can it wait?
- Is having it now worth the extra costs?
- What will be the extra cost of using credit?
- Can you make the monthly payments as scheduled?
- Will you have to give up something else that is more important in order to use credit now?
- Will you be able to handle an emergency if one comes up?
Figure out how much you can afford to repay each month.
Remember that you are agreeing to:
- Pay back the money you owe.

• Make monthly payments.

Desventajas Y Ventajas De Utilizar Crédito

Cada vez que usted hace una compra, usted tiene que decidir si va a pagar de contado o si va a usar crédito. Hay muchos puntos positivos así como puntos negativos relacionados con el uso del crédito. Las desventajas son:

Crédito cuestra dinero. Usted paga dinero adicional por los artículos debido al costo del financiamiento.
Usted está gastando ingreso futuro. Usted está viviendo con dinero que usted espera recibir en el futuro. Si usted pierde su trabajo o se enferma esto puede causar problemas.
Usted puede gastar de más. Es fácil hacer esto cuando las facturas no llegan por un mes.

Las ventajas de utilizar crédito son:

Usted puede obtener bienes y servicios antes de pagar por ellos.
Usted puede utilizar crédito para enfrentarse a situaciones de emergencia.
Usted no necesita llevar grandes cantidades de dinero en efectivo.

Antes De Decidir

Antes de que usted decida utilizar crédito:

Pregúntese:
- ¿Necesita usted realmente el artículo, o puede esperar?
- ¿Amerita el tenerlo ahora el costo adicional?
- ¿Cuánto será el costo adicional de utilizar crédito?
- ¿Puede usted hacer los pagos mensuales según programados?
- ¿Tendrá que dejar de adquirir otras necesidades que son más importante para poder usar crédito en el presente?
- ¿Podrás enfrentar una emergencia si ocurre?
Calcule cuánto usted puede garantizar reembolsar cada mes.
Recuerde que usted está accediendo a:
- Pagar el dinero que usted debe.
- Hacer pagos mensuales.

Footnotes

This document is FCS 7144, one of a series of the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published: January 1994 . Reviewed: December 2005. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu

Nayda I. Torres, Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences and Mary N. Harrison, Professor, Consumer Education, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.