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\nOne of the biggest problems we face is in having too many credit cards. \u00a0I want to give you a little something to think about in this post. \u00a0If having multiple credit cards is normal, that should be reason enough for you to avoid multiple credit cards. \u00a0Normal isn’t working. \u00a0Normal gets us in over our head. \u00a0Normal is having $16k in credit card debt as an American. \u00a0Now that’s a big number. \u00a0So for everyone you know that uses credit cards, they average around $16k in credit card debts.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryaclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/20170707-TIF-SM-3-Indicators-of-Credit-Card-Troubles-400x400.png?resize=400%2C400\")
Too Many Credit Cards<\/strong>
\n(Now we can say) many years ago, we had a number of credit cards. \u00a0My most memorable is that famous Discover card. \u00a0That card took me places I never wanted to go, like collections and court. \u00a0To this day, I vowed that we would never use a Discover card, because when we needed them to work with us the most, they wouldn’t. \u00a0Creditors are like the devil, they help get you in trouble and then bail on you.
\nWe had regular credit cards (Visa and MasterCard), store cards, and our favorite-gas cards. \u00a0We both agreed that our Chevron card had to be the absolute best credit card we ever had. \u00a0It also became the biggest problem at the same time. \u00a0When gas prices soared and to fill up your tank is $80+, you don’t always have the money in the bank. \u00a0Then in the fashion of credit, the debt starts to build up until we were unable to pay the entire balance.<\/p>\n
\nIt doesn’t happen all at once. \u00a0Neither does it happen quickly, but it happens nonetheless. \u00a0The balance begins to get out of your control. \u00a0The funny thing is you continue to think that you’re in control. \u00a0So for those of us who are willing to listen now and those who wished they’d listened then, here are three indicators that the balance is getting out of your control.<\/p>\n\n
\nListen to me and I know you’ll have some resistance, but if you failed to make the payment for \u00a0the entire balance, you are in trouble. \u00a0Even if you’re convinced it’s just once, you’re headed for a problem and don’t even know it. \u00a0This is one of the biggest indicators that credit card debt is about to take you. \u00a0I’ve made all these excuses like most normal folk do. \u00a0I’ll pay it when I get paid again. Then when that didn’t happen, I got smart and said, I’ll pay it with my extra check. \u00a0You know that one that comes but twice a year when you’re paid bi-weekly. \u00a0I found out in the long-run that there are no extra paychecks when you’re already in over your head. \u00a0I also found out what it means to have “a poverty mindset”. \u00a0It’s this type of thinking that says I’ll pay later. \u00a0Paying-later-type-thinking should be replaced with get-it-later-type thinking or save-for-it-to-buy-later-type thinking.<\/li>\n
\nThis indicator, I will admit, is my favorite. \u00a0It’s the person who makes justifications for why they charge and are not able to pay the entire balance as if this is intentional or a good financial strategy. \u00a0It’s not. \u00a0I’ve hear it and have even said it myself…
\nWe need to buy or pay for this. [Note: your needs somehow multiple when you have a credit card.]\nThis is the only way we can get what we need.
\nIt’s better to use the bank’s money than my money.
\nWe’ll pay it off when we get our income tax check.Justifications are you simply lying to yourself. \u00a0I’ve done it and I don’t want to see you do it. \u00a0I can’t believe a person would actually lie to themselves, but we’ll do it.<\/li>\n
\nWhen I wrote this, I knew I’d need to do some explaining. \u00a0“Making debt my default financial position”, \u00a0this is what ordinary people do. \u00a0They make purchasing without having the money their default. \u00a0However there are people who make having the money their default. \u00a0Before you use the same response I used to make, such as, if I made more money I wouldn’t be in debt, let me give you something to consider. \u00a0If you’ve been on any job, at least in America, for a number of years, you make more money today than you did a few years ago. \u00a0Yet for some reason even when we are making more money year over year, we remain in the same financial disposition. \u00a0Sounds like a different problem to me. \u00a0This is what I mean by having debt as your default position. \u00a0It was never about how much you make, but rather how you use what you have. \u00a0If you use what comes into your hand without getting into debt then you’ve altered your default financial position.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n