Credit Card Crunchies/Buying On Time

Once upon a time there were these little plastic things called “credit cards” that were showing up in Americas’ mailboxes. They made it easy for people to start shopping and purchasing things with these thin little light weight cards.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

So what do you know, people were a little hesitant at first, but the idea really caught on. It became easier to carry these little cards, than to actually carry real money. They started to become the norm.

But then something happened! Was it during all of this sub-prime mortgage mess or before — that started causing these credit card issuers to start cracking down not only on the abusers, but on the good users too?

This is an ongoing saga, so being one of those credit card users, there are times when using them makes sense and other times it doesn’t. I hope to make this an ongoing series, ‘The Credit Crunchies’, and find out wise ways to use them, and what is the status quo with these light weight, but possibly turning into a heavy weight ‘depender’!

Credit Card News

Seeking Alpha: “Is Credit Card Debt the Next Credit Disaster-in-the-Making?”
Frontline: Secret History of the Credit Card”
newsday.com: “Consumers haunted by ‘zombie debt’”
New York Times: “Debt Relief Can Cause Headaches of Its Own”

Bloggers on Credit Cards

The Consumerist: “Identity Theft/Go Buy A Shredder Right Now”
Blogging Away Debt: “More Reports of Credit Card Interest Rates Raising Mysteriously”

Credit Card SOS

AnnualCreditReport.com: Free Credit Report
Federal Trade Commission“Credit Repair: Self Help May Be Best”
TruthAboutCredit.org: Resources
Ezine@rticles: “How To Pay Credit Card Debt Off”
Road Signs: “Dealing with Debt” (Good information about debt consolidation. I do not advocate anything else offered on this site.)