What makes the credit card more treacherous than the home loan or car loan is that the numbers seem to only get worse.
When you make a purchase on your charge card you have to pay a minimum each month.
Let's say you buy something for $100 and your minimum monthly payment is only $10.
Once you kick in finance charges and interest rates it may take you eleven or twelve months to pay that off if you just pay the minimum.
Well imagine if you have a debt of $5,000 and to make matters worse your minimum due only takes off about $100 a month.
That means you have to pay every month over $200, yet it will only take about $1,200 off the overall balance.
Many people who fall into this trap are actually in a worse spot because they also have loans, utilities, rent and other bills to pay and cannot save enough money to cut into the charge card debt.
Millions of Americans suffer from debt, and they find the hardest part about getting out of it is when you have to pay small amounts.
The truth is the only way you will get out is if you save up and take out big chunks.
Whatever you do, try and make payments on time, this will help your credit score stay strong.
The stronger your score is the more likely you will be able to work with lower interest rates and finance charges.
This is important because if you are able to refinance the debt, you can put that extra money into taking off the overall balance due.
If you have a poor score because you have fallen behind you may want to look into credit repair.
When you hire a credit repair company, you are getting the most effective form of fixing your score today, and it is easy and affordable.