My statistical opinon is that credit card interest rates over 9.9% should be avoided at all costs.
You should primarily use your credit card to fund tangible items that you can use for employment or self employment. In other words, the use of a credit card should lead to income! But even then, AVOID using a credit card if it is over 9.9%
If your credit card purchase does not lead to future income, then use a debit card, which is based on money you already have in the bank.
Here's the philosophical Question. Why does Corporate America indenture it's citizens with credit card interest rates of 15%, 17%, 19% or higher?
Does it really help the economy if the average consumer is paying a large part of their debt simply to pay the interest on the debt?
Before you answer yes, consider this. If a consumer is merely paying the interest on a debt, they don't have any money to buy a new product. So the extra corporate "profit" generated by higher credit card debt can be invested in new product development, but who's going to buy it? Certainly the debtor already paying outlandish interest rates on previous debt won't be able to afford the new item.
Unlike purchasing a home with a 30 year mortage, in which the home goes up in value most every year, credit card debt usually revolves around items that are long gone and can no longer help the debtor, either from a comfort point of view, or from an income point of view.
It actually hurts the economy to make a person pay the equivalent in interest over the life of the debt to the amount they initially borrowed because the item they purchased has decreased in value, not increased. It therefore must cripple an economy to make a person pay MORE in interest payments than the principle they orginally borrowed.
If I could pass a credit card law, it would be that no matter what interest rate a person was paying, once they have paid an equal amount in interest to the amount they borrowed, the debt would be eliminated.
And the credit carsd cycle could start anew! [img]tongue.gif[/img]