Have card, will travel

Singaporeans are travelling on credit in these belt-tightening times.
Travel now, pay later schemes have been around since 2001 but the number of customers who opt to pay for their travel packages in interest-free instalments has spiked over the past year, said travel agents.
This is how the credit scheme works:Japan touragencies team up with major banks to offer the instalment payment plans. The banks pay the travel agencies the full amount of the tour packages and collect from travellers in monthly instalments.
Convinced that the RM5,800 twin-sharing package was too good to resist, he roped in several friends to join him on the trip.Eighteen friends, including 14 from the Klang Valley, responded to his invitation and paid the fees in full.They were scheduled to leave last Saturday but that was when things started going wrong.They tried to check in at the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas but were told that the agency had not booked their tickets."I feel very frustrated and angry as we had been planning this trip for quite sometime," Ong told a press conference at the MCA public complaints bureau in Sungai Rambai here yesterday.