I’m very conflicted on how I feel about credit cards. I have three of them myself, and they all carry balances slightly higher than I am comfortable with. I’m trying very hard to pay them down, but when the bills add up to just about what I’m bringing home, it take a long time to make a dent. I have to be honest and say that there are times that I wish I’d never gotten the first credit card. On the other hand, having credit cards not only helped me establish a credit history, it’s helped me fund some very necessary purchases and repairs that I wouldn’t have been able to fund otherwise. (Never mind the fact that it’s also funded some very unnecessary purchases I could have done without!) I often have to remind myself that those offers for 0% balance transfers are not the good deal that they seem. That’s a good thing for everyone to know actually– read the fine print! If you are already carrying a balance on your card, you don’t want to take one of these deals. All the payments you make will go to the 0% balance first, while your normal balance continues to rise at the usual interest rate.
Since all of my cards carry a balance, consolidating them like that is not a financially sound option, though it would be nice to have one less minimum payment required every month. Especially considering I pay over the minimum on every card, every month. Then of course, there are the 0% credit cards, you know the ones… no interest rate for a year. One of those things that sounds very promising, but just ends up being more trouble. Yep, been there, done that. No, I think the best option for me is just to keep plugging along the way I am, and try not to use the credit cards unless it’s absolutely necessary. I can tell you one thing though– when I pay off one of these cards, I’m not putting another dime on it until the others are paid off too!