How to keep balanced these holidays

With more than 15.5 million credit cards currently in circulation, and an average of $22 billion spent on credit card purchases every month in the past year, it’s fair to say Australians are fond of paying with plastic.

If used correctly, credit cards can be an incredibly useful tool. But there are common credit card traps that can turn spending into bad debt – particularly at this time of the year, according to Australia’s financial comparison website, RateCity (www.ratecity.com.au).