Most of us are concerned enough about our physical health that we would most certainly heed a warning sign such as an unusual pain or lump on our body that slowly appeared over time. Similarly, our financial health should be handled with the same sort of care and caution. And just as there are both obvious and more subtle signs of physical problems with our bodies, there are different types of red flags that may indicate we are in financial trouble, especially when it comes to debt related to credit cards. Here are some of the warning signs to heed:

• The balance transfer game. Are you finding yourself simply juggling balances from one credit card to the next? Of course, this is a fine idea if you can find a no-fee balance transfer offer with low-to-no interest rate for a set amount of time, but these are hard to find for those without stellar credit scores (and even then, they are unusual) . Every time you transfer the debt fees are added and you will likely be subject to increased interest rates.
• Despite making your payments on time, your balances only increase. You can handle making the minimum monthly payments for each of your financial obligations, unfortunately the balances are not coming down as a result. Due to the exorbitant interest rates that many credit cards charge, and the fact that most have a pretty low minimum monthly payment requirement (by design), this is not an uncommon situation. Don’t get trapped by assuming paying minimum payments will get you out of debt someday; it’s quite the opposite, unfortunately.
• You skip payments on some bills in order to pay others, or worse even use cash advances on one credit card to pay off another. This is like russian-roulette; definitely a game that can blow you out of the water in an even worse situation if you aren’t careful.
• Your credit limit is maxed out on most of your cards. Don’t think that the solution is to get more cards, or to request an increase in your credit limit. Of course, beware, many companies will be more than happy to do so if you are making regular payments and they are earning plenty of interest and fees from you.
• You have no debt repayment plan.  In other words, you have no clue how you are going to dig out of the financial hole you are in, but as long as you can take it a month at a time it’s “all good”. Newsflash: it’s not good at all. You may feel like you are being “savvy” because you’ve figured out a way to buy all these items and have thus far figured out how to manipulate the system on a monthly basis, but it is going to catch up to you: and soon.

The first step to overcoming a debt problem is recognizing it. If you are reading this article, that is most likely a sign in itself. If you find yourself in any of these situations, think seriously about addressing your debt either on your own (here is a great article to read) or through the services of a credit counselor.

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