Do you:

• Have more than two or three credit cards and carry
  a balance on them.
• Pay the minimum or less on your credit cards.
• Juggle other bills in order to pay the minimum
  monthly payments on credit cards.

If so, you might be a “credit card junkie” or so says Jeremy writing at

GenXFinance.com

He offers those signs and more that you might be a credit card junkie and
he reveals common risk factors we all face and how to overcome them.

My favorite:

“Cancel the Catalogs – The more you order from catalogs, the more
your name gets sold to other catalog companies and the more catalogs
you receive. These visual reminders of all the things you could buy (whether you need them or not) is extremely difficult for a credit
junkie to resist.”

He even shows you the best way to do that.

Give it a read if you think you might be addicted!

There is some good news on the credit card front.

New laws take effect on February 22, 2010.

If you are in the mood for some heavy reading you
can learn about those new laws here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_CARD_Act_of_2009

If you would like the new laws explained in plain English, writer
Sarah Eve has a very nice explanation on her blog:

http://totallyher.com/new-credit-card-laws/

I am most happy to see the end of what is called “universal default”.

What that meant is if you were late on your phone bill or any debt
that showed up on your credit report, your credit card companies
reserved the right to raise your rate.

Very unfair, if you ask me.

Good riddance!

Check out Sarah’s article.

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.

Harsh words to some but the absolute truth.

“This may be uncomfortable but it’s time for your credit card debt intervention. There are three words that you should know about your credit card debt that could very well change your entire outlook on your debt. These three words are not always easy to swallow but as they say, “the truth hurts”. Ready for it? Here are the three words that are true about your credit card debt: it’s your fault.”

So writes Joel in his blog posting at:

http://www.creditcardchaser.com/your-credit-card-debt-is-your-fault-stop-reading-self-indulgent-blogs/

Of course, I agree with Joel.  We all make choices.  Some good and some bad.

So accept that it’s your fault and move on.

Move on to better choices about your money.

Move on to extra income sources.

Move on to constant education…read books, take classes.

If your money situation has reached a point where you are behind and see no help getting caught up, go to: http://www.NFCC.org

The specific page on that site is:

http://www.debtadvice.org/takethefirststep/locator.cfm

And finally, stay FAR away from that guy all over the radio touting his FREE CD to help you get out of debt.  That free CD could end up costing you $14,000 which they will be happy to put on as many credit cards as you need.