Living In Credit Card Panic Mode

By Author: Samantha Dale
Total Articles: 610
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Credit cards are almost certainly the most expensive and popular forms of money. I do not know anyone who does not have a credit card, or does not use a credit card regularly. I find that many of my clients go through what I have coined “Credit Card Panic”

Credit Card Panic occurs when you have money in your checking account however your balance is low. You fear the balance going too low or to zero, so you use your credit card even though you could have enough money in your checking account for the purchase. Often times payday is only a few days away. So if you had waited just two or three days to make purchase the items you could have foregone using your credit cards, thus incurring more debt. This seems to be the symptoms of most my clients who are carrying debt. They just do not want to use any of their money or savings.

What is so incredible is our ability to use credit cards even when we have savings. My clients do this same thing. They just do not want to use any of the money they have set aside because it took so long to save it. I had a conversation with my mother a few months before I wrote this ...
... book about debt. She had read my Free Seven Step Guide and she asked, “Can people really live without a credit card these days?” At first I adamantly responded, “Yes! If you cannot afford to pay back the money then you should not use them.” My mother calmly inquired, “What about buying plane tickets and big purchases?” I started thinking about my own behavior before I replied. I had in the past used credit cards to purchase plane tickets. I have lived far from home since I was 18, so I have purchased many plane tickets. I do not think I have ever purchased a plane ticket with a bank card or ATM/DEBIT card until I worked through the steps I lay out in my course. “If you are going to be flying or making a big purchase you should save in advance,” I said. “Of course, there is always exception for critical illness, accidents or deaths as those cannot be prepared for, but you could have a fund for emergencies like those.”

Hillary D. Price is a financial counselor and coach, author, and entrepreneur in Southern California. Her innovative and in-demand “Make Dollars and Cents with Emotions” course is available at http://www.hdpriceinc.com. Private counseling available by appointment only. 888-769-7714, Fax 888-380-9876, info@hdpriceinc.com. See my website for a FREE guide to help you start on your emotional healing so you can also heal financially. Visit our website for your FREE Seven Step Guide to Financial Recovery at http://www.hdpriceinc.com.http://www.hdpriceinc.com