We all love our plastic money and the convenience of using it. It feels great to shop, dine, watch movies by just presenting that little credit card. Sure, those credit cards are very convenient and easy to use, but we should be well aware of the 
other side of the coin too. After all, we would not want to want to our finances to get hurt or let those credit card bills mount high. Already, there are far too many Americans in debt and the figures are just staggering. Read on to get some interesting information about credit cards , your credit score and the debt that will open your eyes about your finance.
Your credit score is going down if you are collecting unpaid parking tickets or late library fines. So, park your vehicle carefully and return that book on time. Always pay your credit card bills on time. Recent survey shows that credit card industry rakes in about $90 billion in finance charges and $55 billion in credit card fees every year. United States leads the world already with the 10 Trillion dollar debt followed by 8 Trillion for UK. The next to follow are Germany, France and Italy with 4, 3 and 2 Trillions respectively.
U.S. consumers spend $51 billion on fast food and use credit cards to pay for that. Well that amounts to 3 billion pounds weight in fries and about 2 billion gallons of coke plus1 0.2 Billion Big Mac meals. One in every 10 consumers in US carries more than 10 credit cards in their wallets. That will make for plastic weighing 304 tons. About half the population in US carries two credit cards. In 1976, city of Montreal had to pay off Olympic debt of $2 billion and it took them 30 years!
Frank X. McNamara and Ralph Schneider invented the first true credit card in 1950. The Diners Club card was the first card that could be used in different locations. It charged an annual fee of $3 fee to the card holder and 7% interest on each purchase. Chase and Bank of America, came out with their own cards 1958 and became most popular with the introduction of magnetic strip in 1970. More than $1 trillion in annual volume trade occurs only because of U.S. Visa cardholders.
The average Household Credit Card Debt in US is for $8,400.00. Just in the last couple of months, it has been surveyed that the credit card debt per borrower is already higher than 5% as compared to the numbers last year. Those lower interest rates keep the consumers encouraged to borrow and make more use of the credit cards. According to the financial experts, these habits can be very dangerous. The total credit card debt in US stood at a whopping $852 billion in September 2012 alone and the debt has been growing significantly. Many might believe that an increase in spending stimulates the economy, but it does leave negative effect on the economy in the long term.
