1. If you spend more than 50% of your credit limit every month, this indicates to the Credit Bureau that you do NOT have enough cash on hand to meet your monthly expenses. This will identify you as a high credit risk and will actually reduce your credit score by 60 - 70 points overnight (Fair Isaac).

2. If you miss 1 or 2 payments on your credit card debt, the issuing company will skyrocket your interest rate to a whopping 27% - 30%!

3. Out of a random sample of 3 million American consumers (included in Experian's National Score Index), 51% of them have at least 2 credit cards and 14% of them have 10 or more credit cards.

The Debt Trap - Student Loans, Credit Card Debt & National Debt Videos

(April 1st, 2007)

Steve Myers - Author of Beyond Today 1 in every 60 households in USA filed for bankruptcy in 2005. There's a major chance that someone in your family, a neighbour down the block or your co-worker is filing bankruptcy. It's not just an American problem either, Scotland experienced a 33% rise in mortgage delinquencies in 2005 while for every $100 Australian earned, they owed $130 in debt.

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Video Review

Rex Sexton (Financial Planner) says: After 9/11, mortgage interest rates were artificially lowered which caused tremendous Real Estate boom. People saw their real estate properties rise sky high in value so they borrowed all this money to buy similar luxury properties such as boats, toys, expensive cars, etc. What's happening now is that Interest Rates are rising. About 1/3rd of all mortgage rates given out in the last 5 years are Adjustible Mortgage Rates. Since the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates, many people are shocked as to how high their monthly payments have become. We are going to find millions of American families on the verge of bankruptcy. This is because they have spent so much, borrowed so much and live so high for the past 5 years, and all of a sudden they'll find themselves not able to maintain that standard of living.

Steve Myers (Beyond Today Anchor) says: I read an article the other day that talked about credit cards. It said each of us on average meaning each American household received 1 offer for a credit card every single week. And the funny part is, most of us do not seem concerned about credit card debt.

Darris McNeely (Managing Editor, World News & Prophecy) says: People have a wallet full of cards, and its very easy to pull one out for your purchases. This creates impulse buying. People also use their cards to pay for example a breakdown in their car, an improvement in their house, a new line of clothes, etc. It's so easy put these purchases on a credit card and if that one is maxed out, put it on the 2nd credit card.

Steve Myers (Beyond Today Anchor) says: It's surprising, I read an article that says 60% of people who use credit cards do NOT fully pay off the balance owed each month. And we lost those finance charges build and build. It's so easy to let it go, all I can do is make the minimum monthly payments and I'm okay right? We seem to fool ourselves!

Darris McNeely (Managing Editor, World News & Prophecy) says: More factors that encourage people to sign up for these credit cards is the no annual fee slogan, low interest, etc. But they don't read the fine print attached on their agreements. This fine print writing can allow the credit card companies to increase interest rates if you miss a payment, they can up interest rates from 18% to a whopping 28% or more!

Comments

Steve Comments on April 3rd, 2007

Steve Myers is correct, i used to be one of those 60% of people who could not pay off his credit card balance each month. Its easy to carry around lots of credit cards, stick them up for unnecessary purchases just to keep up with what your friends have, a nice pair of $80 shoes, $120 jeans, etc...