Credit cards are always misjudge as a problems in long term rather as a solution, as a tool or instrument to facilitate every day's life.
Usually it is because you dont look at it as facility.
Most of us look at credit card as an opportunity to spend more than we can afford.
For instance, I got my first credit card at age of 22.
I was in college at that moment.
Fascinated about music, I bought a guitar worth $700.
With monthly allowance of $500, that doesn't make any sense.
I managed to pay off all the debt within 2 years.
Plus I paid more than $100 in interest for that piece of crap (I don't know how to play guitar until now).
Tips on Your Card Mostly, what you need to do to have credit card as your friend is to pay whatever outstanding amount on the statement.
Only by the method, your mind is trained to look at the cards as payment instrument rather than a debt instrument.
But, I do understand very well the temptation to spend more than you can afford.
Know when short-term loans make sense Sometimes financing a purchase with a card is prudent, as long as the repayment time frame is short.
For example, let's say you want $1, 500 worth of living room furniture, but don't have the cash to pay for it immediately.
If you charge the items to a credit card with an 18 percent interest rate, and cover the balance in four months, the finance fees would total to just $57.
Not a bad deal.
If you stretched it out over two years, however, you'd pay an extra $300 which is quite a mark-up.
So, just got your card? Use it wisely! :)