OK, now picture this in your mind. You’re driving through a seedier section of the city and look over on the street corner and observe a person standing there trying to blend into the background. Soon a car pulls up to him and he approaches the window of the occupant. The questionable character reaches in and presents the drive with an unknown item. I know, you’re thinking this shady clown is a drug dealer. Are you sure he’s not your local banker?

I think you may have to consider a few things here. The local drug dealer stands on the street corner and sells drugs and he makes more money than most of us do. The banker sits behind a desk and presents you with an unsecured line of credit that is represented by a piece of plastic that will fit in your wallet and charge you not only up to 24% interest but service charges and annual fees. Just think, you run up that plastic nose candy to the point where you can’t pay it off every month, He Owns You. Oh sure, it sounded great in the beginning. Zero Interest, No Annual Fees, No Service Charges, but now the honeymoon is over.

I remember when I got my first credit card, The first thing I did was to go out and buy something that I really did not need and I had the money to pay for the Item. That was my first experience with credit drug abuse. The next thing I know, I’m in deep. I had collected some really cool electronic toys and other things that were not even material items. I had no clue of my spending habits with the plastic until the end of the month. By then I loved using the plastic.

The next thing I know, I’m sitting on the wrong side of the same bankers desk asking to refinance my house to pay off my plastic habit. The banker was sitting there with a smirk on his face filling out the appropriate paper work that makes me a slave to my house for another five years. He then reassures me that this is a wise move because it would take me 15 years to pay off the plastic habit doing the minimum payment thing. There I was, Mr. Responsible. That great unsecured line of credit had turned into a loan secured by my home with nothing to show for it.

I know, I know, society has dictated that we must carry one of these pieces of plastic in order to avoid walking while on vacation to rent a car or staying at a no tell motel for 30 minutes at a time. Retailers love plastic because it cuts down on employee theft and ease of record keeping. Business people love plastic because the credit card companies do most of the accounting, not to mention the rewards.

I am pleading with you. Don’t fall into the credit abuse world. Live within your means. If you have a high interest credit card go to and transfer your balance to a true low interest rate card. You’ll save more money that you can imagine. If you are having trouble getting a card to build your credit score go to they will help you and keep you on the right track.