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Credit Cards

How to Live Debt Free Without Credit Cards

Credit CardsAuthor – Andre Larabie

Living debt free is a goal that many of us have, but few of us seem to be able to achieve. Our modern world seems programmed to keep us in debt – credit cards, financing for major purchases, store cards and more keep promising us that we can have what we want now and pay for it later. It is a massive temptation. When we are looking at the signs that say ‘Nothing Down, and no Payments for 12 Months’ we aren’t thinking of the extra cost that is implied in that financing. When we buy everything on credit we can end up paying as much as 3 times the value for the items we purchase. Over a life time this money can really add up. So how do we get out from under the burden of our consumer debt?

The key in lightening the debt burden lies in re-establishing spending priorities that are within your means. The fact is, when you live debt free you will actually have more than enough money to buy the same stuff you buy on credit, the difference is that you cannot necessarily buy with the same sense of immediacy. (more…)

Credit Cards – You Can Leave Home Without Them

credit-card-trap Is it possible to survive in today’s world without a credit card? The answer I get from most people is that it can’t be done. To do anything these days requires a credit card, it seems. If you want to make purchases on the Internet you have to have a credit card. You can’t reserve a hotel or buy plane tickets without a credit card. Most people use them now to buy gas. Fast food restaurants take them along with movie theatres, the post office and grocery stores. It seems everybody takes credit cards. So it would seem that you really do need a credit card to survive in today’s world.

The only problem with that statement is that it’s dead wrong. I have never owned a credit card in my life and I don’t plan on owning one. When I tell people I have booked airline flights, booked hotels, traveled to China and Sweden and other countries, gone on cruises and purchased all kinds of things over the Internet without a credit card they say, “You’re lying!” (more…)