Until this very moment I’ve never heard of “dirty credit cards”.
It was introduced to me by author Bob Sullivan in an article at Consumerist.com titled:
“How To Save Money Using A Clean Credit Card”
He advises keeping only one credit card for new charges. Your main goal is to get that one paid off every month without fail while getting your “dirty” cards or cards that carry a balance paid off as fast as possible.
You won’t be adding new charges to the “dirty” cards so this will help your motivation as you see the debt amounts go down.
Sullivan writes:
“Naturally, you can’t always control when you make credit card purchases and payments. If you could, you wouldn’t be using credit cards in the first place. If you are like 50 percent of Americans, you run a balance each month. And if you are like 99 percent of Americans, when you run a balance, you keep using that credit card, keep racking up interest charges, and pay up thinking there isn’t much you can do to pay less. Well, there’s a lot you can do— you can use the clean- card strategy. Put simply, you should always have one “clean” credit card in your wallet or purse; a card that you know you can pay off in full every month.”
I really like this idea.
It makes so much sense. You get the sense of accomplishment of paying off a card in full each month while at the same time, seeing the “dirty” card balances go down.
Give it a try.
