Zen Garden > Wealth - Why YOUR Credit Card is Probably the Single BIGGEST Leak in Your Financial Wealth Bucket.

I have to admit something. I got a real shock today. You see, I just received my latest credit card statement. Today, for the first time in a long time I took a good hard look at it. Normally, I just look at the transactions, check them off and pay the damn thing. Today I read everything and I was SHOCKED to discover something...

For some reason I had it in my mind that the current interest rate was somewhere around 15%. That is EXPENSIVE, particularly if you have a large amount owing. I kept scanning the card trying to find the exact interest rate that I was being charged on my purchases. Eventually, I found it. There it was - on the BACK of the statement. It wasn't 15%. No. It was 19.24%!

My eyes widened. 19.24%? When did it reach THAT ridiculous rate?

You have to admit that an interest rate of almost 20% is absolute daylight robbery. Who else but a bank or a finance company could get away with this sort of thing. It's mercenary. I can only think of two - a store with its own store card and a "pay day lender."

Needless to say, you would be very unwise to have a store card or engage a pay day lender. I believe that some store cards run interest rates at over 30%. Ouch!

Payday lenders, somehow, are able to get away with rates as high as 10% per week. I'm not even going to comment on that other than to say that if you are contemplating using a pay day lender then - DON'T, just DON'T!

As a final comment on credit cards, let me ask you a question. Why do you think that banks only want you to pay the MINIMUM amount off your credit card every month? Think about it...

3... 2... 1... Bzzzz. Time's up. What is your answer?

The answer is - because if you do that you will take MUCH longer to pay the money back and they can KEEP charging you the exorbitant interest.

The whole credit card scam - I mean, scheme - is designed to keep you shackled to EXPENSIVE debt for as long as possible.

Make it your mission to get out of that trap as quickly as possible. It is one of the BIGGEST leaks in your financial wealth bucket.

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Gary Simpson is the author of nine books covering a diverse range of subjects such as motivation, self esteem, affirmations, self defense, wealth creation and much more. His many motivation and success articles appear all over the web.

Gary Simpson is a 7th Dan karate master who teaches self defense, motivation, self help and wealth building to students around the world through home study courses. You may reprint this article as you include this author credit and an active link to his web site. Finance - Self Help - Motivation - Self Defense - Personal Growth MotivationSelfEsteem.com