Personal Finance

Credit Cards

Whether one considers credit cards the best invention since the wheel, or the worst thing ever to come on the scene, the fact remains that they are out there, and there are plenty of them.

There are many different types of credit cards also. There are those that can be used literally anywhere in the world, and there are those that are good only at certain places. There are credit cards with fixed interest rates, credit cards with floating interest rates. The list could go on indefinitely, but it is not hard for one to get the message.

The options, especially for payment, are almost as numerous as the types of credit cards themselves. These include, but most certainly are not limited to, minimum payments on the balance, payment of the entire amount charged during a particular billing cycle (i.e., monthly), incentives for early payoff, and, surprisingly, incentives for carrying a balance from one billing cycle to the next.

Credit cards are easy to get. In fact, there is speculation that they are too readily obtainable. College students, in particular, are inundated with credit card offers that start arriving almost as soon as the letters of acceptance do. And, it does not help that the credit card companies make their offers and options so attractive that a young adult, who is most likely completely independent for the first time in his or her life, cannot help but be tempted.

For this reason, many people, not just college students, find themselves with numerous credit cards and credit card statements, but only one source of income. This can, and all too often does, cause problems.

However, there are solutions. The most logical one, of course, is to only have one credit card, and a firm commitment to using it only in cases of extreme emergency, or only when it is evident that the charge can be paid IN FULL on or preferably before the due date.

Should that not be the case, however, (and usually it is), there are ways in which one can drastically reduce or even eliminate credit card debt. One such solution is a debt consolidation

Once credit card debthas been resolved, however, one must be diligent and not succumb once more to the lure of the plastic. It will not be easy, but it can and must be done.