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Cash or Card?

Date: Dec 11 2009

Grammar: Past Perfect Progressive

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Intro

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It’s a tempting thought: “I’ll just charge it.” You can pay for almost anything with a credit card these days, and it’s easy to feel like plastic money isn’t real money.

Until you get your monthly bill, that is. A lot of Americans today are stuck with more credit card debt than they can handle. But cards are so convenient, why bother carrying a bunch of bulky cash?

Plus, if you pay attention, you can actually earn money by spending money through credit card rewards systems. As Mason says, you just have to know how to play the game. Find out if he and Marni prefer to pay with cash or cards.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Marni

Mason: I got 10,000 new credit card applications in the mail. And they just bug me, ‘cuz I’ve got my one, I’m signed on to the whole credit card thing, and I need everybody else to just leave me alone.

Marni: Yeah, but you’re gonna be inundated with offers if you have good credit.

Mason: I have great credit.

Marni: Right, that’s the thing.

Mason: The secret is pay it off.

Marni: But that’s why so many Americans and so many people get into trouble, is because they carry debt.

Mason: It is. It’s so easy, you’re just like “Hey, it’s just a little piece of plastic, and sure, put this on my tab, I’ll run that one, no problem, I’ll pick up this check.”

Marni: So, I had been using my credit card relentlessly, just paying for everything with my credit card.

Mason: A vicious cycle, it’s a vicious cycle.

Marni: Because I never have cash on me. And then my balance started just getting so high that I felt like I was spending money that I really didn’t have. So I had to scale back and actually start budgeting and paying for things with cash again.

Mason: Well and you know, you’re just robbing yourself, because the credit card companies, if you can use them right, you get great benefits, you get cash back or you get the miles, or you get shopping rewards or whatever.

Marni: Right. And I think that’s such a good incentive to use your credit card. But it does…I feel like it becomes a vicious cycle.

Mason: It’s like a game. You play the game and you get your little points…Stick it to the man! That’s what the credit card’s all about. The magnetic man. Stick it to him.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Paying your credit card bill on time every month and never carrying debt are good habits to get into. But as Mason has discovered, they also have a downside. When you have really good credit, you tend to receive tons of annoying offers for more credit cards in the mail.

Most places in the U.S. let you pay with a credit card, so it’s almost unnecessary to carry cash with you these days. Marni didn’t like to carry cash, so she used her credit card all the time. But she realized that she was spending too much money that way. Now she tries to pay with cash more often.

Do you usually pay for things with cash or a card? Do you think there are more pros or cons to using a credit card?

Comments

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s id

Saudi Arabia

i think it depend ourselves . we can use it correctly .

i prefer buying things with cash .i use crated card

when i need it ,

s id

Saudi Arabia

i think it depend ourselves . we can use it correctly .

i prefer buying things with cash .i use crated card

when i need it ,

tayyarc

Turkey

I hate credit cards. Because It is difficult to pay But Usually I need them.

iwori

Japan

Both ways have pros and cons lots.

I sometimes use credit card only when I couldn't allowed to pay with cash, for example, sales only for online shopping or concert tickets. Actually the way is convienient but I'm getting not figure out how much money I spend.

jfzhang40

China

i think if i pay with credit card in Carrefour today .

shigshigow

Somalia

You can pay for almost anything with a credit card these days, and it’s easy to feel like

dustbin

China

i love money.

ala4fadeel

Sudan

I usually use my credit card in my daily transaction although I don't like to do so but I got into this bad habits. The advantage of using credit card, building a solid credit history, easy to use and safe. The disadvantage are severals such as get inundated, spending money that you don't own and lack the feeling of watching oneself when shopping.

stoneshi100

China

If we can get controled ourselves, I would say, it's better to use credit card not only for it's convenient but it can help improve our credit. If we use very often a credit card and pay the bill on time, we will get higher credit accordingly.

vivivi^^

China

I always paid for things with cash.

Credit cards are convenient, but they make it easy to get deep into debt.

plus,i think its use not widespread in our town.

kikimasho

China

credit card will deal with evething; that’s great, but when the tap comes, pains come. so i prefer to use cash if i just go shopping in my city.

nickyfat

China

Well, I don't like credit cards that much. I prefer cash. When you pay with cash, you know exactly how much you've spent and how much you've left, but with credit cards? No way you'll know and you'll be stuck with the debt. I don't like that. It sucks, I don't want to owe money to anyone! So why using credit cards? It is more convenient, but it is easier for you to get careless with money and your property. So for me, cash comes first!

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

since its not that safe to carry much cash with you these days. i prefer to have just one credit card; however, its tempting to have a credit a card passing at the mall or a store. but i think twice to charge someting on the card if its not necessary.

burcinyo

Turkey

yes i have credit card too and i use it generally.but i am trying to be very carefull when i go to shopping and up to this time i never had a problem about my credit card.

carlos07

Argentina

Now in our country bank credit card issuers offer great discounts up to 35%not avaiable if you pay cash, in selected shopping malls, I think due to the recession, and to make new clients for the bank. Really you can save if you buy things you really need.

To trongdu, vietnam, If you are not safe, we have same problem, is better not to carry much cash, and pay whatever with a c.c. if you need; better than being assaulted.

WhiteOrchid

Ukraine

Using credit cards is doubtfully very convenient. You don't have to carry cash with you and you can allow yourself to buy anything you need and pay for it later. So, this way you are not limited to cash amount you carry with you or own at the moment. It saves your time and makes your shopping comfortable and pleasant! At the same time it definetely has some obvious or hidden downsides. One of the obvious one is that if you forget to pay off your debt on time you start carring debts with the %. One of the hidden downsides is that you overspend without even noticing it in most cases and often you are ready to pay a higher price for something you like as you don't feel you actually spend money. Because of all this I still haven't ventured on using a credit card. Although it's tempting, but I think it'll be difficult for me to remember to pay my bills on time and so, I'm gonna be hooked by all this system.

Simon terminator

India

I would refer cash and card both. Because some time what’s happen card holder buy what ever thing he want’s . But the point is when the bill comes the big list of paying. That time he can get heart attact . I know it depends upon card holder. But then also i refer cash and card both.

guhansr

India

it makes my life convinient but some times miserable…. this makes us to do lot of unnecessary things… but it depends on the holders to make whether it s a advantage or not..

Primorsky

Ukraine

There are a lot of pros and cons in using credit cards.

I often pay with ones then I buy something expensive. It's rather convinient,

because unnecessary to carry along a bunch of cash.

_enigma_

Germany

of course , using credit cards are very tempting thought for most of people but it can become a vicious cycle when/in case of you carry your debt and not pay it off …we should scale our money how much we have and how much we should spent throughout in case of(emergency)need ...besides pros,there are some cons also we can get so much benefits from credit card if we use it in the opportune time .