Articles provided by RE-Sterling.com

An inviting trap created by our modern-day financial system, credit cards can be harmful to you financial health.

Using a credit card is not bad IF you have the money to pay off the balance each month

However, purchasing things with a credit card because you don't have enough cash, is simply committing your future earnings to the credit company under the threat of a bad credit rating. That is financial slavery.

Over the past few years, financial experts have assisted many people to get out of the credit card trap with debt relief programs. That says a lot about how bad the situation is. Assisting people to do this is frowned upon by the credit lenders; they lose all that profitable interest. They take counter measures to hook consumers back in by offering 0% percent interest for some period of time.

Are they really giving you 0% interest? Only if you can pay off the debt in advance of the expiration date of the offer. What the credit company are counting on is you NOT being able to pay it off.

If you can't pay, what happens then? Carefully read the fine print details on their 'Terms and Conditions' agreement. Many agreements have an attractive interest rate in big print; 9.99% to 12.99% is fairly standard. But, watch out for variable rates, meaning it is the 'attractive' rate PLUS the 'prime rate.' The prime rate is what the banks are charging the credit company which then gets charged to you. This alone can add a whopping 6 - 9% on top of that seemlingly low interest rate.

Read further and the rest of the trap is revealed. If you miss a payment or are late, the credit company have the right to increase the interest rate to as much as 39%. IN ADDITION, they are allowed to add an additional $25 - 39 late fee. On a $1,000 balance, that is $52 - 66 a month in interest and fees you are required to pay before you ever get to pay the first dollar of the price of the item you charged.

What else do the credit card companies have in their arsenal of weapons to ensure they continue to make interest money from you?

That enticing 'minimum payment' they allow you to make which is mostly interest, and keeps you paying for whatever you bought for about 20 years. Second, the credit companys are now using invitations to get cash back from stores or earn airline miles for each dollar you spend.

Who pays for that? You do! The credit companies charge the stores for the cash they give you back, and the stores raise their prices to cover the cost.

Credit card companies pay a tiny amount up front for each airline mile that they 'give' you for every $1 you spend. On January 1, 2007 in an NBC TV news interview, the president of a major airline said that it costs the airline company $10 to fly you somewhere when you have charged enough to earn 25,000 air miles to take a flight.

Who actually benefits financially if you charge up your credit cards to earn a 'free' flight? It does not take a genius to see that trap dressed up to look like a big benefit to you.