【正文】 現(xiàn)金交易的 便利感到很滿意。然后就輪到她付款了，整個(gè)交易進(jìn)行得和我的一樣順利， 但我的高興勁兒很快就變成了莫大的羞恥：我的信用卡太寒酸了，是不顯示身份地位的黑藍(lán)色，而她的信用卡則是高級(jí)的金卡。How did she do this? How could this be? I knew I earned more then her,my car was newer,and my house was did she get to appear more flash than me? 她是怎樣弄到金卡的？怎么會(huì)這樣呢？我知道我掙的比她多，我的車 比她的車新，我的家比她的家漂亮，她怎么看起來(lái)顯得比我光鮮呢？Now, I had a job which was as steady as any job was in those days that’s to say, not very, but you know,no had a mortgage on my house,but then who didn’t? I paid off all my credit debt at the end of the month, so although technically, I was in debt to the credit card pany,it was only for a matter of a few I assumed I had a good credit rating. 我有一份跟那時(shí)候任何工作相比還算安定的工作——即不太安定的工 作，不過(guò)我也沒(méi)什么可抱怨的。我是通過(guò)按揭貸款買的房子，可那會(huì)兒誰(shuí) 買房不貸款呢？我每個(gè)月底都付清信用卡欠款。所以，雖然從技術(shù)上講我 欠過(guò)信用卡公司的錢，但只是欠幾個(gè)星期而已。所以我認(rèn)為我的信用等級(jí) 應(yīng)該很高。 Call me superficial,and I’m not proud of myself,but there and then,I was suddenly jealous of my decided I no longer wanted a blue wanted a gold gold card was suddenly indispensable,it would make me feel good with myself,and desirable to others.你可以說(shuō)我膚淺，我也不感到自豪。但就在當(dāng)時(shí)當(dāng)?shù)匚彝蝗环浅＜刀?那位朋友，我決定不要藍(lán)色信用卡了，我要一張金卡。金卡突然變得不可 或缺，它讓我自我感覺(jué)良好，讓別人覺(jué)得我更有魅力。 So I applied for the most distinctive,shiny golden card the pany offered.于是，我去信用卡公司申請(qǐng)最特別、最耀眼的金卡。 I was turned down.可是，我的申請(qǐng)被拒了。When I had recovered from the shock,which took several seconds,I asked why. It appears that because I pay my credit card bill both on time and in full,I’m not the kind of person that they want to have their gold credit target people who are prone to impulsebuying,and potentially bad credit risks,tempted to spend more than they have, and liable to fall behind with they can charge them more interest,and earn more ’s the way they do business. 過(guò)了幾秒鐘，我才從這個(gè)打擊中回過(guò)神來(lái)，我問(wèn)為什么。顯然，因?yàn)?我每次都按時(shí)全額付清信用卡欠債， 所以我不是他們想要的那種金卡客戶， 他們的目標(biāo)客戶是那些隨時(shí)有購(gòu)物刷卡的沖動(dòng)，有潛在信用風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，經(jīng)不住誘惑超支消費(fèi)，經(jīng)常延期還款的人。這樣他們才有機(jī)會(huì)收取更多的利息， 掙更多的錢，這就是他們的經(jīng)營(yíng)之道。So does this explain why the credit card panies are luring impoverished students with unrealistic interest rates,like my kids? 這能夠解釋為什么信用卡公司會(huì)用超低利率誘惑像我們家孩子那樣的貧窮大學(xué)生嗎 Three weeks ago, daughter came home from university for the ’s in her second term of her first has a student loan of $3000,like most of her friends,and a small allowance from her poor mother (ha!) for transport, books, living expenses. She wears clothes from the local charity shops,and rarely goes hugged me (never usually does that)and then said,”Mum,I need to talk to you.” 三個(gè)星期前，我的二女兒回家過(guò)周末。她在讀大一第二學(xué)期。和她的大多 數(shù)朋友一樣，她借了三千英鎊的學(xué)生貸款，并從她可憐的媽媽（哈！ ）那里 得到小小的一筆生活費(fèi)，用于支付交通、書本及其他生活費(fèi)用。她穿的衣 服是從當(dāng)?shù)氐拇壬贫值曩I來(lái)的，平時(shí)很少出門。她擁抱了我(以前從不 這樣做)，然后說(shuō)：“媽媽，我有事要跟您商量?！?“What is it,darling? Tell me everything.”“親愛(ài)的，什么事??？都說(shuō)出來(lái)讓我聽(tīng)聽(tīng)?！?“I’ve applied for a credit card,and I need someone to act as a guarantee for it OK if I put down your name? Thanks so much,Mum, must dash!Bye.”“我申請(qǐng)了一張信用卡，需要保證人，我可以填您的名字嗎 非常感謝，媽媽，我得趕快走啦，再見(jiàn)?！盇fter I’d hauled her back into the house, it transpired that her bank had written to her offering a credit card at a low interest for a trial threemonth period,subject to suitability... And so bank! I trusted them! They know even better than I do how broke she is.我費(fèi)了好大勁兒才把她從外面拽了回來(lái)。 原來(lái)她的銀行來(lái)信告訴她說(shuō)： 她可以申請(qǐng)一張三個(gè)月試用期內(nèi)低息貸款的信用卡，只要合適……云云。 她的銀行！我才不相信他們！他們甚至比我更清楚她一貧如洗。 Here’s an serious question. Why do they call them credit cards when it would be more accurate to call them debt cards?這里存在一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題：準(zhǔn)確地說(shuō)這種卡應(yīng)該叫欠債卡，他們?yōu)槭裁匆Q它們?yōu)樾庞每ǎ?Here’s an even more serious friend’s daughter, Kelly,was studying modern languages at university, and spent a year some point in the year,there was a change of procedure,and Kelly’s bank failed to allow her to access her funds in her current account,because the request was from outside the ,there was a lengthy correspondence while she tried to sort this out,so the delay in being able to access her funds meant that she went into the red,and her debts began to rise more than $200 above the agreed limit on her overdraft of $1500.還有一個(gè)故事更嚴(yán)重。我一個(gè)朋友的女兒凱麗在大學(xué)攻讀現(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言， 其中有一年要到國(guó)外交流。在出國(guó)交流那一年的某段時(shí)間，由于程序上的 變動(dòng)，凱麗的銀行切斷了她在英國(guó)之外訪問(wèn)帳戶資金的權(quán)限。通過(guò)書信同 銀行交涉的時(shí)間相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)，未能即時(shí)訪問(wèn)帳戶資金使得她欠了銀行的債，欠 款額超過(guò)了透支額度（1500英鎊）200多英鎊。When Kelly got back home,the bank charged her $100 for going over the limit,and insisted she paid $30 a month to bring the balance back to below her omitted to tell her that she wasn’t actually paying off the debt,but only the exorbitant interest on the overspend of the overdraft. 凱麗回國(guó)后，銀行因?yàn)樗Э哿怂?100英鎊，并堅(jiān)持要她每月支付 30英鎊，以使她的超支數(shù)額回到透支額度之內(nèi)。但他們沒(méi)有告訴她，每月 支付 30英鎊并不是償清欠款，而是支付超額支出的巨額利息。So Kelly had to turn to her credit card which she had used sensibly and sparingly until that she was a student,and because she didn’t use it much,naturally her credit limit was low. 因此凱麗不得不求助于信用卡，在這之前她對(duì)信用卡的使用一直非常 小心謹(jǐn)慎。由于她是學(xué)生，又因?yàn)樗苌偈褂眯庞每?，自然她的信用額度 就比較低。 And not surprisingly,she couldn’t pay off even the minimum payment on her credit card there were not only bank charges owing,but also credit card debts and of curse,she was recorded as being a bad credit risk. 毫不奇怪，她甚至無(wú)法償還信用卡賬單里的最小還款數(shù)。所以她不僅 欠銀行手續(xù)費(fèi)，而且還欠信用卡的債務(wù)及利息。當(dāng)然，她因此被銀行登記 為信用風(fēng)險(xiǎn)高的人。 Things then went from bad to few months into her final year,the bank notified her that it was going to reduce her overdraft from $1500 to told her to apply for a student loan to cover the when the loan pany did a credit check,they discovered the card debt.事情越來(lái)越糟。大學(xué)最后一年剛過(guò)幾個(gè)月，銀行通知她：她的透支額 度由 1500英鎊減少到 1000英鎊，他們讓她申請(qǐng)學(xué)生貸款來(lái)填補(bǔ)缺口?？?是，貸款公司檢查她的銀行信用時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)了她的信用卡債務(wù)。Guess what? She didn’t get the loan. 猜猜怎么著？她沒(méi)有申請(qǐng)到學(xué)生貸款。This was a delightful kid who had great restrain with her spending and was economical about her lifestyle. She didn’t go on spending sprees buying new shoes,and she didn’t use her credit card as if(unlike me) it was a fashion had to drop out of university. 凱麗是個(gè)討人喜歡的孩子，消費(fèi)節(jié)制有度，生活節(jié)儉。她并沒(méi)有瘋狂 刷卡買鞋，也沒(méi)有把信用卡當(dāng)成時(shí)髦玩意兒（不像我），她只是用信用卡購(gòu) 買生存所必需的食品。And what happened? She had to drop out of university, 結(jié)果怎樣呢？結(jié)果是：她不得不退學(xué)。I wish there was a happy ending to Kelly’s story,although maybe there will the moment,she’s working in the local supermarket,and it’s probable that she’ll have another go at university