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Ever since debit cards came into existence I have been a steady user as opposed to using a credit card. I even went a long time with having one credit card that I only ever used for emergency situations only. I would pull my debit card out at every retailer I would visit and never use cash. I can remember long periods of time never even carrying cash with me for that matter.

I recently started to rethink my position after reading a credit card article. What benefit is there to me the consumer by using a debit card as opposed to a credit card? There are no benefits that I can think of.

Maybe one benefit would be that the money is taken out of my account that second so I can gage how much money I have within my budget and stay within it. It is easier to get into credit card trouble when you can spend, spend, spend all month long and not even realize what you are doing. If your bank account empties then you debit card is empty to.

The last six months I have only used credit cards when they are accepted and put my debit card away.

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Dear Credit Karma,

We have a credit card with a balance of $13,000.00. We are only making minimum payments, but we are trying to settle with the credit card company to only pay half. How much it will it hurt our credit score? We both have a 760 credit score.

From, Alejandra

First off, it’s great that you are trying to figure out how to pay off your credit card balance beyond paying the minimum. Just to make it even clearer that you shouldn’t go back to just paying the minimum, if you did pay minimum (let’s say 3% the balance) on your $13,000 balance on a credit card with the average 14% APR, it would take you a whopping 18 years and 2 months to pay off your debt, and you’ll be paying an additional $8,091.21 in interest.

So, the big takeaway here for you and for readers as well is to always pay more than minimum. Even if

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One of the biggest problems right now in America is credit card debt. This holds especially true for college students and those who own multiple cards. Do you have high debt hurting your financial future? This article will show you 5 easy ways to eliminate credit card debt and hopefully save your credit score.

1) Calculate how much money you owe on all cards.

The first and probably most important step is for you to realize just how much debt you owe. Many people try to avoid thinking about their total debt. As in basic psychology, you will need to look deep inside yourself and admit you are in debt. It really does not matter how much you owe the credit card companies. This first step is to get you to prepare for changing your financial activities and priorities.

2) Cut back heavily on credit card usage.

Once you get to fully realize how much you owe, the next step is for you to assess how many cards you have.

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If you had an outstanding credit card balance of $5,000 and your issuer offered you a $200 bonus to pay off your debt in the next 6 months, would you take it?

Some credit card issuers are hoping that’s exactly what customers will do. Issuers are considering rewarding cardholders, rather than penalizing them, with these cash incentives to encourage customers to unload debt, which also decreases risk of defaults and record-high delinquencies for issuers. Sounds like good news for cardholders and issuers alike.

MSN Money broke the story, pointing out that issuers are becoming a little more cooperative with cardholders hampered with debt because potential defaults and delinquencies are costing issuers millions. While issuers used to be thrilled over cardholders with a high card balance because it generates high interest charges, if consumers aren’t paying debts at all, issuers are at a huge loss.

High rates of delinquency, closed accounts, and defaults have become more and more prevalent since the recession. MSN

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