Last August, The Motley Fool, one of the most entertaining personal finance and investing websites out there, published an article called the 8 Commandments of Credit that I feel every consumer should read. Some of the commandments are common sense, some of them may not apply, but an educated consumer has a duty to read and understand what these rules mean and ensure that they follow them. They address some of the tactic that credit card companies use to try to extract as much money as they can from unsuspecting consumers like you and I. In this series I will elaborate on some of these commandments and give my personal take.

Commandment V. When you get into trouble, stop charging.

This is a great tip… if you can’t make the minimum payments, please please please stop charging to your credit cards (they recommend “stop, drop, and roll” – hence the title of the post) because you’ll only dig yourself into a deeper hole that you’ll have to dig yourself out of later. Stop charging, drop the card, and roll that balance to a lower interest rate (or simply ask for a lower interest rate) so you can stem the bleeding.

Source: The Motley Fool