Credit cards are a wonderful little payment tool to have in your purse or wallet, they are efficient and a handy way to pay for your purchases, more than using cash in many ways, you don’t have to run to a ATM to withdraw your cash, all you have to do is hand it over and apply your Pin and the transaction is made.

Another point is that the money that you are spending is not really yours, so it sometimes feels easier to make a larger purchase, because you know that it is not costing you a penny and a credit card gives you the feeling that you are not leaving yourself short.

But if they are not used in the correct manner and you apply the “Put it on the Credit Card” when you know that you are not in the financial position to pay for the goods with cash, then this is when a credit card will start to work against you, when it should be working for you.

Credit cards have high interest rates, even though a 15.9% APR sounds ok, especially when you divide it by 12 to get your monthly rate, which will make it sound all the better, they are still higher and not as good value as a mortgage or personal loan and with a credit card your debt can get worse, as you can make it higher as your financial position will go from bad to worse and could even cause you problems with your mortgage as you struggle to find the payments for both.

A credit card should be used to your advantage, by if you can pay it in full every month, or at worse paying more than the minimum payment and always check your statement when it comes in, in case of any phantom payments that may have been made using your credit card, as mistakes can be made, so by checking your statement you will be cutting off the problem, before it causes you serious problems.

Try and not to have too many credit cards in your purse/wallet, as this could lead you to build up debt to a level where you cant keep track of your payments and if you miss a payment, then you will only being adding to your debt, with penalty fees, which s you know you don’t have any goods to show for it.