Unless you’re in dire straits, I suggest you NOT get this GE Money CareCredit credit card offered by your doctor (or offered anywhere else). You should know that their interest rates are the highest legally available. You should ALWAYS check the interest rate on any line of credit you apply for and soundly reject those with abusive rates. In mid 2011, a good rate is around 9%. Most cards offer around 15%, which is not that great. Anything over that should not even be considered. Any offer over 18% deserves a speech from you to them about ethics and questioning them how they can sleep at night. GE Money CareCredit is approaching THIRTY PERCENT!!! This vastly surpasses the line of questionably ethical. GE Money CareCredit is a huge rip off!
BTW, Pay off your debts!
And, while I’m on the subject of interest rates, call all your debtors and see if you can get a lower interest rate. When you’re paying off your debts, pay the minimum on all of them, except your highest interest debt. On that one, pay as much as you can possibly afford. Sacrifice as much as you possibly can. Cancel all magazine subs, downgrade your TV cable/satellite plan to the bare minimum (or even altogether and just watch over-the-air TV), if you still have a regular home phone system, drop it and just use your cell phone or convert it to a lower priced VOIP system (Lingo.com or Vonage.com). Stop eating out. Learn the sales patterns at your grocery store. And, for the love of all that is good, use coupons! Does your grocery store offer fuel points? USE THEM! All this gives you MORE MONEY to use to pay down your debts SOONER and the sooner you pay them off the LESS YOU PAY in interest over the course of the debt! Stop using your credit cards unless it’s an emergency.
When that first, highest debt is paid off, take all the monthly money you WERE paying to that card and add it to what you’re already paying to the next highest card, until it’s paid off, then roll all that over to the next one, and so on, until all your debt is paid off.
Make sure your whole household is on board, ESPECIALLY your SPOUSE! It makes all the difference in the world. Make it a project that you’re both excited about (and you will be when you see your debt start to shrink)!
Good Luck!