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Have you ever noticed how you can get at least 10%, if not more, off of your purchase, just by opening up a credit card? Have you ever opened a credit card just to get a free gift like a tote bag or water bottle? I have...We all have!

The bad part is when those cards come back to haunt you. First of all, having too many credit cards has a negative impact on your credit rating. Second of all, the more of those little credit cards you have, the more likely you are to use them at their respective stores. It's a recipe for disaster! If you feel compelled to get that discount, open the card, pay it off immediately, and cancel the card. But, try not to do it too often. Again, you don't want to hurt your credit score.

When you are looking to open a new credit card or looking to consolidate credit card debts on to a lower interest card, watch out for introductory rates. Make sure you plan ahead and know how much you need to pay each month to prevent yourself from having a balance after the introductory period. On a similar note, pay close attention to the "no-payment, no interest" deals some credit cards offer. If you really don't make any payments, you will get stuck with all of the interest at the end. Look closely at your statement, you'll see the interest accumulating, just not being charged...yet.


One way that credit cards get you hooked is by increasing your credit limit. Each time you pay the card off or make a sizeable payment, they may increase your credit line. They'll send you a congratulations letter with the good news, but this isn't always good news. Do you really need the limit increased? Do you really need extra to spend? Decide what limit you want your card to be at. If that limit is $5,000, then keep it there. If they try to increase it to $7,500, call them. Ask them to reduce it back down. They may be a little confused, but stick to it. Take charge of your own credit.

Don't fall into the credit card traps the credit companies have set for you. Be responsible and be reasonable with your credit cards. Understand the terms of each one you have, and it will make managing payments and expenses much easier.

We often recommend hiring a debt consolidation company to people who come seeking our advice. For those with little time or energy to devote to cleaning up their debt this can be a great idea. An even better idea (and quick way out of debt) is to do it yourself. If you're interested in that you must check out Zipdebt. With this one guide I've seen amazing results with my clients!

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Are you overwhelmed by all your credit card debt? Do you feel like you will never be able to pay it all off? Here are three tips that will help you to pay off your credit card debt and be debt free in no time at all!

* Distinguish between needs and wants. Don't buy wants. It is very easy to justify buying something you don't really need. Anytime you find yourself waiting in the checkout line ask yourself, what do I have here that I could live without. Be harsh, is this something you need for your survival, or just something that will bring you short term happiness.
* Learn the joy of delayed gratification. You might be surprised to find that waiting to buy something you really want, until you have saved up the money for it, can bring lots of pleasure. When I wanted a new phone it took two months to save up the money. During that time I enjoyed shopping all the new phones that were available to me. It was even more fun when I paid cash for the phone. I guess the sales clerks just don't see that much anymore.

* Learn to live on a cash basis. Pay for everything with cash. Don't use your credit cards unless you or someone you love would die if you didn't. Really, it is that serious. You will never get out of credit card debt if you keep using your credit cards! Plus you will find that when you are not paying hundreds of dollars in interest, you have more money to buy fun things.

There you go. Just follow the three suggestions above and you will find yourself out of debt in no time!

Kathleen Parker, EA is a professional tax preparer with 20 years experience helping businesses with taxes. You can read more about getting out of debt and living the debt free life at Money, Debt and Taxes.

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Debt begets more debt. Has there been a truer statement? This is especially true right now during a very hard economic cycle. Most people are struggling to pay their debts and it seems that when you take one step forward, you are pushed two steps back. Here are the ways that this happens (and what you can do to get out of the cycle).

Credit card companies raise their rates and fees while lowering your credit limit thereby incurring over-limit fees. It is up for debate whether this is caused by the economic conditions now or not because credit card companies are banks who have been bailed out by the federal government financially. But, nevertheless, they found it necessary to raise interest rates (finance charges), and fees while lowering credit limits at or just above current balances thereby incurring over-limit fees. The way to get out is to do a balance transfer if you can, or better yet, pay off the balance and close the account. It is of less importance at this point about the dip in your credit score that closing an account will cause.


Pay higher interest on loans and credit cards. Not only do credit card companies higher rates ding you pretty badly, but when you go to get other loans, your amount of debt and low credit score pushes the interest rates up thereby extracting more money from you on a monthly basis. This is especially hurtful if you are trying to re-finance a loan in order to obtain a lower monthly payment. The only way out of this is to work on making your payments on time and allow a few months to go by performing well so that your credit score goes up. Once it has reached a higher level, then re-apply for that loan.

Find yourself paying late fees on loans. When you are struggling with debt, it is very hard to pay your loan payments on time. What happens is that you have one bad month in which you miss the payment deadline and then you incur a late fee. Those fees add up over time and can extend the number of months that you owe if the loan is a personal unsecured or an auto loan. You will likely end up with another month or so in paying off those late charges unless you pay them as you go.

Contact your creditors or banks and see if you can get an extension on a personal loan or an auto loan. They are being very understanding right now because of economic conditions and you might find that you can get a 60 or 90 day extension with which you can get back on track with them so that you are not late on payments, and at the same time use that little extra bit of time to pay down the balance of another very small loan or credit card and get rid of it.

Take some time to make an effort to improve your situation so that you do not feel like you are locked in a cell and cannot get out. The tips above should help you to move ahead. Once you begin to make progress, do not give up until you are in a much better position with your worst debts paid off.

CreditCardFlyers.com is the place to go online for a credit card with 0 apr balance transfer offer. You can compare balance transfers from multiple credit card issuers and calculate your credit card savings when you transfer higher interest balances to your new cards.

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