As this presentation reveals, credit cards can be a very good thing or the path to debt help. However, if you learn to avoid these seven credit card traps you will be able to stay out of debt and enjoy the benefits of credit cards.

1. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
7 Credit Card Traps To
Avoid At All Costs
Have you ever been in credit card hell?
This is the financial state when you
realize that your credit cards are not
really doing you any good. It is when
you are put in a situation where you
have been sucked into one of the credit
card traps that is keeping you buried
under loads of debt (Continued)
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2. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
What makes debt easy to fall into is the fact that you can use it over and over
again. It is not like the traditional loan that you apply for once and when you have
used up the funds, you have to apply again to get more money. A credit card
allows you to use it again and again - that makes it a dangerous habit to get used
to. If you are not careful, you could end up burying yourself under a mountain of
debt.
In fact, TIME.com reported that the current debt of Americans has reached really high
amounts already - scary high rates to be exact. That is how the article described it. They
cited data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that the current debt is not $11.52
trillion. It is an amount higher than it had ever been since 2011. Not only that, the article
said that it is still rising quite rapidly. The debt increased by $241 billion during Q4 of
2013. That is the highest growth with 2007 - which was the start of the most recent
recession.
Does that mean we have to brace ourselves for another financial crisis? That all
depends on how we act now.
7 credit card qualities that double as a financial trap
One of the things that you can do is to avoid the tricky debt pitfalls that can ruin
your financial situation. In particular, you may want to be a smart credit card user.
That begins by learning the credit card traps that will put you in danger of too
much debt. Here are the 7 qualities of a card that you need to be careful with. If
you do not know enough about them, they can end up putting you in debt.
1. Minimum payment requirement. The first is about paying only the
minimum payments on your credit cards. If you do the calculations, you
will realize that it will take you a lifetime (sometimes literally!) to finish
paying off your credit card balance in full. That is because the minimum
payment requirement is only around 4% of your balance. The rest are
finance charges. If you want to significantly reduce your debts, you have to
learn how to pay more than the minimum.
2. Late payments. Another one of the credit card traps that you need to be
cautious of is late payments. This is not just the $25 to $35 charge that you
will be paying on top of your balance and finance charge. It can also
include the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) penalty that you will be
imposed until after you have made six payments on time.

3. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
3. Payment processing schedule. In line with number two, you need to be
aware of the specific schedule of your payment cut off. It is usually in the
afternoon of your due date. If you sent in your payment even a minute late,
that can trigger a late payment fee. You can call the credit card company
and ask it to waive this penalty so that you will not be charged - at least, if
you have been late for only a minute or a day. But if you know that you are
going to be late, you may want to call your creditor immediately to ask for
an extension.
4. Introductory fixed interest rate. The law allows credit card companies to
change your APR anytime they wish. They only have to give you advice
ahead of time. Sometimes, credit card companies will offer a fixed interest
rate on new accounts but do not be blinded by that. In most cases, that will
change after the first year is up. Make sure you are aware of that before
signing up for the card. Ask when the new rate will take effect and how
high it will be.
5. Balance transfer. Credit card traps also include the debt relief option
known as balance transfers. It is true that a balance transfer can help you get
debt relief but you have to understand the rules first. This is a new card that
is offered with a 0% interest rate. This is only for a specific period - usually
between 6 to 18 months. After that, your rate will change to the usual high
interest rate of credit cards. Unless you can pay the credit card debt
completely within the promo period or at least a significant part of it, this
debt solution will not help you a lot.
6. Cash advance. Be careful of cash advances in credit cards. While this can
help you during emergencies, it will have a very high interest rate. If you
cannot pay it back immediately, it can accumulate quite easily. Try to
search for other options to finance your need. Credit card cash advances
should be one of your very last options - along the same level as payday
loans.
7. Reward programs. The last of the credit card traps that you may want to be
careful with are the reward programs. If you are only getting the card
because of the rewards, you need to come up with a better reason than
that. Also, you may want to maximize these rewards to benefit from the
card.

4. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
These credit card traps can put you in debt if you ignore them. Make sure you pay
attention to them so they will not become pitfalls.
How Americans use their credit cards
Although these traps will cause you to fall into credit card debt, the main blame
will still be on your own spending habits. It is just in our culture to be spenders.
In fact, the US economy relies heavily on consumer spending to thrive. That
being said, you can expect that the government, businesses and everything
around you will be encouraging you to keep on spending your money.
Based on an infographic from The Credit Examiner, credit card usage statistics
reveal that in 2012, Americans spent their credit cards on the following:
• 81% on travel expenses
• 77% on expensive purchases
• 46% on personal items
• 44% dining out
• 38% on groceries
• 37% on entertainment
• 20% on household bills
• 15% on small expenses
Most of the expenses here are actually unnecessary, if you think about it. In
another infographic, The Credit Examiner showed some interesting statistics and
facts about overspending in the country. Apparently, in 2012, the picture of
consumer spending was as follows:
• 52% of consumers are spending beyond their means.
• 21% of them have monthly expenses that cannot be covered by their
income.

5. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
• 13.5% of consumers are forced to alter their budgets to accommodate the
overspending of the previous month
According to the last infographic, some of the reasons why consumers are
overspending is because they do not have monthly saving goals. Another reason
is they can easily access credit and cash. Plus a lot of us misuse our credit cards.
It is apparent that managing multiple credit cards without ending in debt is a huge
challenge for all of us. But you do not have to get rid of these cards if you do not
have to. You just have to learn how to use it wisely.

6. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
Does this sound familiar?
• You are tired of worrying about money…
• You are losing sleep due to mounting credit card
debt…
• You are fighting with your partner about the
bills…
• You are living paycheck to paycheck…
• You are falling behind on your debts…
• You are losing hope…
It’s time to talk with National Debt Relief!
Call Toll Free 1-888-703-4948 Now!
Or Go To http://NationalDebtRelief.com