{"id":2030,"date":"2008-09-04T00:31:21","date_gmt":"2008-09-04T07:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=2030"},"modified":"2019-11-25T22:05:02","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T06:05:02","slug":"credit-card-basics-five-essential-skills-for-living-with-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/credit-card-basics-five-essential-skills-for-living-with-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit card basics: Five essential skills for mastering plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"
The latest issue of Consumer Reports<\/i> (October 2008) has an article about the new credit card jungle<\/b>. The faltering economy and the ongoing mortgage crisis may be affecting your credit cards<\/a>; issuers are raising rates, changing terms, and lowering credit limits. The magazine notes: “Now is an essential time to do a credit-card checkup<\/b> to make sure your accounts haven’t changed for the worse.”<\/p>\n I like the idea of a credit-card checkup, but I don’t think it’s something you should do just once in a while. To avoid the dangers lurking in this credit card jungle, it’s important to foster a set of survival skills that will help you avoid danger spots before you blindly stumble upon them. Here are a few:<\/p>\n Remain vigilant against the scourge of credit card debt, the quicksand of personal finance. Credit cards are not<\/i> a source of free money<\/b> \u2014 don’t treat them as such. Credit cards are tools that allow you to use the money you already have in different, more efficient ways.<\/p>\n For example, I save 1% on my utilities by paying with my cash-back credit card<\/a>. These are expenditures I’d make anyhow, but the card saves me money. (As a bonus, using the credit card helps with my quest for a paperless personal finance system<\/a>.)<\/p>\n For more on this subject, check out these past Get Rich Slowly articles:<\/p>\n What do you<\/i> consider essential credit card skills? What sort of credit card basics do you think people should know?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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