Give us some credit

Have you ever found yourself buried in piled-up credit card debt? These days, who hasn’t? Here are a few quick, easy and simple ways to help keep your head above water, or in this case, plastic.

It would be a gross understatement to say that credit cards are a slippery slope…they seem to be more like a bona-fide bobsled chute for personal finance. It’s frighteningly easy to overspend when you’re extended a line of credit. In fact, it seems that new credit card holders view their credit limit as “free money” until they get their first bill, and that’s where it all begins to clamber downhill. You see, it’s simple, easy and relatively painless (in the short term, anyhow) to use that little piece of plastic to acquire all sorts of material goodies without having to actually take green out of your wallet or bank account.

However, unless you plan on paying off your balance forthwith, you pay more in the long term in the form of interest, and that’s how credit card companies make money…by basically taxing consumer impatience and laziness. It’s like this: we, as human beings, largely dislike having to delay gratification. It’s not a weakness or a fault, gratification feels great. We all love it. The hard part is keeping that perfectly natural human urge under discipline.

With an objective mind and a clear head, you can actually turn your credit card into a valuable asset rather than a fiscal anchor. Credit cards are great in emergencies where money is needed but not quite available at the time - but even this sparing use can backfire if the balance isn’t taken care of in rapid fashion. You can even use credit cards to build, well, credit by making small purchases and keeping on top of your balance before it goes outstanding and you begin accruing interest. If you do want (or need) to use credit for purchases, try to use it as close to “like cash” as possible, paying off the money owed as soon as possible, even the same day if the company has online payment options.

Credit cards can be a valuable tool in the game of spending and saving money, especially if we keep their use to an cautious minimum, but as with some tools this one has definite sharp edges. Remember that balances build up rapidly, and if you don’t stay on top of your payments, they’ll eventually wind up on top of you.