Running Head: Americans Should Not Use Credit Cards 1

Americans Should Not Use Credit Cards
Christopher McDonald
COM/156

Donna Madison-Bell, MS

Running Head: Americans Should Not Use Credit Cards 2

With more Americans in financial trouble than ever before and personal debt at an all-time high, most Americans should shun credit card use. Americans are having trouble paying for their credit card purchases and they are taking on more debt than is fiscally sound based on their income. Many people are being mislead by the appealing advertising tactics of credit card companies and most don’t understand or receive the information they need to make intelligent use of their credit cards or make important personal finance decisions. In addition, today’s economy has left many people unemployed or underemployed. To compensate for their lack of income, many people are using their credit cards to pay for basic items like food and gasoline. Because they lack a substantial income, they then can’t pay the credit card companies. Still other people might lack the will power to resist buying items that they can’t afford. Instead of rationalizing that they do not have the cash for the purchase, they use a credit card and worry about it at a later date.
Americans now have more personal debt and financial struggles than ever before in the nation’s history, in part because of irresponsible use of credit. A 2007 article in the magazine Mother Jones stated that Americans owe a staggering $850 billion in credit card debt. In comparison, the world’s 54 poorest countries owe just $412 billion in foreign debt (Mother Jones, 2007). The average American carries a total credit card debt of $8,000, according to the American Bankers’ Association. Many are not paying these debts, leaving lenders to write off an estimated $21 billion in bad credit card loans in the first half