First, you should never get a credit card, and second, you should get lots of credit so you can build a high credit score. Wait, aren't these in contradiction? Yes, and yet, they are both correct. Let me explain.
All of the top financial guru's in the conservative financial arena, state that you should destroy your credit cards, always pay in cash and never play the credit game.
However, credit, much like a sharp knife, is a tool that when used properly, can give you access to options that you would not normally have access to. It allows you to purchase a home, car, flat-screen television and make small, manageable monthly payments until the debt is reconciled. This sharp tool, if not used responsibly, can also cut you and perhaps that is why you are here.
So what is the average consumer supposed to do?
Education, frugality, budgeting and living beneath your means are the answer, but we are never taught in school how to safely use credit, and most consumers end up spending more than they make. This results in a lifetime of high-interest credit card payments to the largest institutions on the planet. Just look at the largest buildings in your city and you are sure to see the names of banks that offer credit cards.
How do these credit card companies get so much control over consumers, and get them to begin a lifetime of making monthly payments to these financial giants? Well, besides fancy marketing and the lure of the material posessions and "have nots," there's something else.
The answer is the Credit Score, and we'll take a deeper look at this on the next page.