12 THINGS AT CHRISTMAS THAT CAN ADD DEBT TO ME – 3. Using Credit Cards For Gift Loans

It can feel great to get that treasured item on your loved one’s list that they have always wanted. Even if you can’t pay for in full, your credit card allows you to get it now. Just put it on a credit card. That way you can make payments and it’ll be MUCH more affordable, right? Wrong.

Debt creeps up on you like snow piling up during a snow storm. You don’t notice how quickly it’s piling up because you’re not really paying attention. Then the slow-moving avalanche of credit card debt can bury when you are blinded by the emotion of getting what you want now. And once you start leaving a balance forward on your credit card it is soooo easy to just keep adding to that balance because the payment is so low AND you have more credit available!  So why not get that gift now and have what you want, and then pay it off a little at a time?

Well, unfortunately, the card does have a limit, and once that card’s limit has been reached, you still need to pay on it every month, for a very long time. No problem, just open up a new card account and use that one, until that one is maxed out. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Before you know it, your credit runs out, and you’re up to your eyeballs in debt, paying minimum payments for on things you don’t even have anymore! You could be in debt for years, maybe even decades paying high rates of interest on that special Christmas gift you HAD to get, leaving you no money left over for the things you really need.

Don’t get blinded by the snow storm.  Spend responsibly, if you can’t pay for it now, don’t buy it. Put the money you would have spent on interest into investments. That way you’ll have the money to get what you want in the future.