There has been an ongoing skit on the David Letterman Show called “Stupid Pet Tricks”. It was an aptly named bit because the things people teach their pets to do are truly silly. Letterman did so well with that skit, he followed it up with another series called “Stupid People Tricks.” Well, when it comes to the dozens of credit card offers that you get in your mailbox every week, you might think that some of these credit card companies would like to be on the next series called “Stupid Credit Card Tricks”.

These promotions that you get for credit cards seem to be playing on just about every tactic they can find to get you to take out yet one more credit card. You would think that the fact that credit card debt is a virtual epidemic in this country would let the credit card companies know that its time to get on the side of the consumer to learn responsible use of credit. Instead they do all they can to get you to have more, not less, credit cards and use them as much as you can.

When you are trying to get out of credit card debt, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. There is a progression of alternatives most people go through in trying to find ways to drive that credit card debt problem down and get it under control. At first just trying to pay them off month to month seems reasonable. But as the debts mount up, more creative measures are often tried.

It is when you take that next step of leveraging debt against debt that you know things are getting out of control. This is when you start paying off one credit card with another. Now there are reasons to do this such as moving debt from a high interest account to another that is doing business more favorably for you. But you have to watch those “deals” because often there are transfer fees or other hidden charges to sneak up on you. And if the lower rate is a “limited time offer”, the advantage of the lower interest rate for a few months may not be worth the extra fees. And if that new credit card carrier then jacks your fees up higher than they were on the old creditor, you are worse off than before.

Balance transfers are one of the big methods that are common used to try to get some control over an out of control credit card debt. While many balance transfer offers you get from credit card companies in the mail are not a great deal, some of them can really help if you are just trying to get the debt you are trying to keep up with under control. And getting that debt to a credit home where the interest rate is not only reasonable but not constantly changing is a big goal of making balance transfers.

There are some general guidelines you can use to pick which balance transfers to even consider in the first lace for moving your debt. It is worth your while to be a wise consumer and chose a credit agency carefully because it is a competitive market and, as with anything else, there are good guys and bad guys out there. Some guidelines to take into consideration are…

The epidemic of credit card debt in the last five years would make you believe that credit cards are a bad thing. By themselves, credit cards are not bad. They not only can be a tremendous convenience, in many situations a credit card is absolutely essential. And building a good credit history and reputation is just one of the ways you go about establishing yourself as a viable financial entity in our society.

But like everything else in life, you can handle credit well or handle it poorly. It is when you start being pushed around and living in slavery to your credit card debt that you start to feel like a victim. So to regain control over your financial life, you have to manage your credit cards and the debt you owe there and don’t let it be the boss of you.