This One Thing Can Solve Your Credit Problems... if You Use it Right
In 2017, Americans broke previous debt records by accumulating over $1.021 trillion in credit card debt, surpassing the 2008 record credit card debt load that preceded the Great Recession. Total debt load has also hit a new peak, at $12.73 trillion as of March 2017. Consumers are drowning in debt, but there's an easy way to get and keep your head above these murky waters.
There is good debt, and there's bad debt. And then there's credit card debt, which is in a class of its own. Credit cards are uniquely dangerous for two reasons. First, the interest rates: despite the current low overall interest rate environment, average credit card interest rates hover around 16.15% as of October 2017. Paying off debt that's charging you such a high interest rate is extremely difficult, because unless you make substantial payments on a regular basis, your debt is likely to grow rather than shrink over time. Second, credit cards are extremely easy to use, making impulse purchases a constant temptation. Getting a mortgage or a car loan requires considerable time and effort, but accumulating credit card debt is a simple as running the card through a reader at the checkout or entering your card number into a website.
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Source: Fool.com
