Some extremists would tell you to avoid credit card debt by avoiding credit cards completely. Of course, credit cards can be good for you, helping to build your credit score when you use them the right way. So counting out credit cards completely isn't the best solution for avoiding credit card debt.
There are some other, less drastic things you can do to avoid the debt trap. For example, paying your balance in full every month will keep your credit card debt at $0. Here are 10 Ways You Can Avoid Credit Card Debt.
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Try not to buy things at all, that helps me.
Credit cards give me a false sense of wealth, it’s like eating excessively.
John DeFlumeri Jr.
My suggestion is to take it as a challenge to pay off credit card debt.
Take an account with the smallest balance and py it off asap. That will provide motivation and free up funds to pay off other balances.
It’s certianly not extremist to avoid credit cards because “responsible use” is garbage. Responsible credit utilization is long term low interest borrowing. The notion that you need a card to establish credit is not true either. While you can establish credit history with a card, I believe it is too risky since the system is designed to get you into debt, and quite effective too. Credit history can also be established using a cosigner for a loan (student, car,etc.)and by paying other bills (cell phone, utility)
I enjoyed reading your article. We need more common sense discussion for consumers today.