Most people advocate the case of credit cards, quoting the benefits and convenience that arises from them. However, there is another line-of-thought that strongly opposes credit cards all together. The primary reason given for this opposition is the resulting excessive credit card debt facing America. It is one of the most serious problems faced by the credit card holders and credit card industry as a whole.

However, you can't pull the shutters on the credit card industry just because of a few irresponsible people (ok...so maybe it's more than a few). That is not a solution for beating excessive credit card debt. Moreover, you can't discount the many benefits associated with the credit cards.

The issue of excessive credit card debt can be looked at from two angles. First is addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the industry level and second is the addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the level of the individual. The first method involves increasing awareness of America's debt problem to the masses. This is more or less being done currently too. However, there should also be an effort to tackle this problem of excessive credit card debt at an even deeper level. This means trying to devise a mechanism to nip the problem in the bud. This mechanism should actually be a part of the overall system. A lot of thought needs to go into devising such a mechanism.

Case studies should be taken up, statistics gathered and a proper forum formed (with representatives from the lenders and from consumer advocates). As of now, the credit card suppliers just seem to be engaged in coming out with new products and getting customers enrolled to those products. There is little attention paid towards addressing the problem of excessive credit card debt in the real sense. Something like attending mandatory seminars on the root causes of excessive credit card debt could be made part of the credit card application process. There could also be mechanisms for proactively warning the users about excessive credit card debt (based on their credit card usage) or even imposition of early restrictions on noticing the first signs that lead to excessive credit card debt At the individual level.

The reality is, a large-scale change is unlikely anytime soon. There is too much money to be made by the credit card companies and Americans are all to happy to live above their means. The only way we will see change is through financial education, however it may be brought to consumers.