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Find out how come people ring up so much debt

by Steve Bis

Credit card debt and other unsecured debts have come to be a severe problem for the greater part of families in the United States. Individuals have become to accustomed to just utilizing their plastic to get whatever they want, whenever they want it, without really having the ability to pay for it. Below I am going to list the top three reasons that people wind up becoming so slowed down with credit card debt.

1. Impulsive Buying and Bad Spending Habits!

Buying on impulse represents a lack of willpower. People will basically see something in a store and charge it on their plastic, all due to that they cannot show some patience in getting, whatever item it is they want to purchase, regardless of whether they have the money for it then or not. Credit cards feed the fire of impulse buying that is what the cards are there for to gratify our need for instant gratification. You know the old motto "patience is a virtue" if some individuals adopted that rule debt would not be an issue for them.

Poor spending behaviors run along the same line as impulse buying. Some individuals just pamper themselves far to much in life. For example, somebody might go to a four star restaurant, and instead of ordering a cheeseburger and fries, they get the filet mignons, the appetizer or two, the happy hour special, and the ice cream special. And of course charge it on their plastic. Don't take me out of context every once in a while splurging isn't bad, but for some people it is a everyday way of life. And these bad spending behaviors can build up to a skyscraper of debt in a rather fast time period.

My Advice: Next time you are at a store, any type of store, and you are going to make a charge with your credit card. Look down at the items you are going to charge and think to yourself "Do I really need these things?". If you find yourself charging merchandise that is more of a want then a need put it back, and promise yourself when you have actual cash not a plastic card, to come back and purchase that merchandise for yourself without using your card. The key here is to differentiate between wants and needs, your food is a need, your toothpaste is a need, the brand new James Bond flick is a want, the brand new pair of sandals are a want. A oil change for your vehicle is a need, a supercharger for your vehicle is a want.

2. Having Too Many Credit Cards!

This is the next big problem to individuals getting into heavy debt issues. People simply just cannot reject the credit card offers they receive. They get these offers in the mail saying your pre-approved and your credit limit is five thousand. For a lot of people this is too much to take on and they will graciously accept every offer and promptly put them to use.

My advice:Simply throw them in the garbage! You don't need them. You must think of each one of these card solicitations you receive in the mail as a inevitable financial time bomb waiting to blow up. The only way to cut it off is by tossing them right into the trash bin. Learn to reject the new credit applications you don't need them, this cannot be stressed enough.

3. Cash Advances!

This is an extremely large factor in people compiling up debt. It's to easy to go to the automatic teller machine and withdraw cash against your card. However this becomes addictive to individuals and becomes a big reason why they accumulate such large debt amounts.

My Advice: Stay away from cash advances. This essentially is almost the same as just purchasing on your card, because you still get charged interest and rack up debt.

Steve Bis is a credit card debt analyst with the US Consumer Advocate, which practices in credit card debt settlement.

Published December 10th, 2007

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