In any game, including debt, there are strategies that will help you win. One of the easiest strategies to master is “no new cards.” As convenient as they are, and even though they have helped most of us through some experiences we may not have gotten through without them, credit card debt should be handled with great caution.

Remember, the maximum limit on each card with your name on it is the amount that goes in your indebtedness column on your credit report. In other words, let’s say you have four cards with a total maximum limit of $12,000. Creditors will look at that $12,000 as if you have indeed charged that much against them, even though you may only have a $250 balance on one of the cards.

One common marketing approach is to offer you a credit card at a low rate if you will consolidate all of your cards onto that card. People who are behind in their payments of other debts often apply for several of them.

The next time you get one of those offers in your mailbox, and I would guess it will be within a week since the average American gets twenty each year, look at it closely. If it looks at first glance like you have been preapproved for credit of $100,000, look again. Find the words “up to” in smaller letters. At the risk of having it show up on your credit rating, I don’t recommend applying for it.

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