Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

compounding interest

I’ve been haunting Apple’s Web site of late, obsessing a bit over the prospect of buying a new MacBook Pro to replace my PowerBook G4. This weekend, I tried to tally up how much the incidental costs would be — shipping, sales tax, etc. — so I’d have a better idea of how much this venture might cost. On the check-out page, I noticed an unusual feature: the option to split your purchase across multiple credit cards:

I can’t help but wonder: Is such a feature wise? By making the process easier, they’re lessening any stigma associated with spanning a purchase across multiple cards (previously, you had to interact with an actual person to do that). That social barrier and inconvenience factor served as a sort of built-in psychological barrier that might have forced someone to think about whether or not this was something they really wanted or needed to do. I wonder if allowing someone to do this as a matter of course makes such an interaction too convenient. And in an age where American credit card debt is so high, is it smart to offer mechanisms that would encourage folks to drive it still higher?

That said, I’m sure that this fulfills a need for Apple and its customers — particularly, say, cash-strapped students. And if someone wants to max out one (or more) credit cards to buy computer equipment, that’s their choice — and their mistake, if they’re not prepared to fulfill the financial obligations that result. I just worry that it’s getting too easy to make that leap.