Credit cards are not for everyone. That is not a surprise. Credit cards can lead to debt, high interest fees, wasted money, loads of stress, and more. So, if credit cards are not for you, then you may want to look into ditching and cutting up your credit cards in order to switch to a cash and/or debit care lifestyle.
There is nothing wrong with ditching credit cards. There is no shame in it either, so it’s always best to be honest with yourself and do what is best for you.
1. You treat it as free money.
If you treat your credit cards as though they are free money, then you need to immediately get rid of your credit cards. Your credit cards are not free money, and you will go into major credit card debt if you treat them that way.
Whether you want to believe it or not, many people do treat credit cards this way.
2. You often forget to pay your credit card bill.
Do you always pay your credit card bill on time? If you do not, then you may be paying high interest fees and late charges. These are both things that you do not want to pay because you might find yourself paying much more than what the value of the item actually is. It is a huge waste of money!
There are some simple fixes you can do to change this though, if this is your only problem with credit cards. One main thing you can do is to auto pay your credit card bill each month. Another is to set a reminder (such as on your cell phone) to pay your credit card bill each month.
3. You spend more money than you make.
This one sort of ties into number 1, but it is slightly different. If you put everything on your credit card in hopes of being able to pay it back later, then this can be a huge mistake. You should be able to pay your credit card balance in full each month before any interest fees or late charges are accessed.
Before you buy something, ask yourself if you have the actual cash to pay for the item in your checking account first.
4. You only make minimum payments.
If you only make the minimum payments on your credit cards each month, then you probably should not have a credit card. Paying only the minimum payment will mean that you still need to pay interest fees each month, and this is something that many people do not realize and they then make this mistake. Always pay the full balance each month if you want to avoid any interest fees. Interest fees can easily build up and can make your credit card debt seem impossible to pay off very quickly.
That $100 outfit can easily turn into $1,000 in credit card debt if you don’t pay your credit card bill in full each month.
Do you prefer credit cards or cash?
Image via Flickr by?Sean MacEntee
