Personal Debt & Irresponsible Advertisers

The personal debt level in Australia is concerned. Australians have racked up over $23billion  on their personal credit cards. The interest an even bigger challenge.  It is also alarming to see the number of ads popping up on television pushing quick money. No questions asked. Others pushing  ‘buy-now’ pay sometime in the future. Transfer your credit balance is another. They even have apps to make it easier.

(As August 3rd)

But, this takes the prize for irresponsibility, in my opinion.

The TV ad encourages people to transfer their existing credit balance from one card to another. The grabber is, ex months interest free on the balance transferred. Sounds good and if people have a sizeable balance on their card, it could save them a reasonable amount of money. I emphasise ‘could’. That is, if they take advantage of the interest free period and pay off their balance, and don’t just continue to add to it. But if all they are doing is paying the minimum and adding to the balance all they are doing is shifting the pain in the future. And, adding more debt.

But what really annoys is what the woman in the ad says, "Now I don't have to worry about my balance, I can spend my time doing things I like, like socialising and going out to dinner. That assumes simply running up more debt; irresponsible.

And so it goes, people transfer their credit balance to another card, they continue to spend and the cycle starts all over again..

I wonder if advertisers ever think about the message they are conveying. It appears not and those pushing easy credit options certainly don’t.