[Eugene Tackleberry]

You are correct. I used to work in the industry. It is an industry that preys on the ignorant and the poor. I quit largely because I could not live with myself knowing that my job was to deceive as many people as possible into getting themselves into debt.

[SpyderTim]

You each make good points. However, there is more to it than just that. Yes, running a balance from month to month is really stupid. But if you are in a financial bind or unemployed, you may have no choice because you cannot afford to pay more. If you are responsible, of course you will pay off the entire balance each month. Responsible usage of credit cards means that you take advantage of them in emergencies. If you have enough money to pay off the entire balance, then by all means, unless you are an imbecile, you will!

[Optimist]

Credit Card abuse (from the corporate side) is rampant:
not only have due dates been changed to NOT coincide with statement date (in some cases reduced to 2 weeks from statement date) which in those cases guarantees that your payment will NOT be in time (allowing for all mail times-especially post 9-11), but in some cases even cuts off the business day BEFORE the mail arrives!!!

how many of us are excited when we get those low interest introductory rates for balance transfers? (gee I didnt know my credit was THAT good.....
SURPRISE!!!! It's not and they know it!!! ALL credit card agreements have clauses allowing for exorbitant fees for late payment and even allows them to cancel the agreement you signed... often allowing the interest rate to go from 0%, 2.9%, or 4.9% to as high as 25% or more!!!! And, by the time you realize it happened you are already paying the higher rate. The really sad thing is THEY KNEW from your profile that you would probably pay late (and if you don't, they'll find a way to force a late payment on you--see above)

Oh, and thought you were getting a great low rate on transfers to your current card? Hope you didn't already have a balance, because even if you pay off your ongoing or past purchases, payments are not applied to only the current purchase or past balances, but are instead divided between the transfer and other purchases resulting in guaranteed high interest fees on recent balances that you thought you were paying off in favor of keeping a high balance on the low interest transfer amount.

In short.... pay off balances as soon as you receive the statement (on-line payment is even better to avoid snail-mail delays) CHECK, CHECK, CHECK your statements for charges by the CC company and don't be afraid to complain to A SUPERVISOR! Some of the stuff they are doing is REALLY sleazy!