When I first came to the US and started making some money the allure of credit was pretty strong. One year later, I had about $100k between amex and my bank. I was on even on track to get an amex Centurion, as I had some side business doing $50k a month on my card. The whole access to lots of cash and the positioning of status is a powerful thing. Even though I'm well aware that it's just a trick to get you to spend "oh, a black card sir, please enjoy some cheap perks that cost you more than they're worth, because you're special". It's lame, but I'm not the only one that went for it. A friend was paying over $10K a year just to have additional black cards for other buddies.

On the credit itself while at first I was cautious and against the idea of debt, the moment there's any cashflow issue, bam. I'm rather embarrassed, but without discipline it's easy to get lost. And every time I'd hit the limit, the limit would go higher. WF started off at $3k, and moved to $20k with zero explicit requests from me. If you're living month to month (US health insurance was $1600/mo), a single bump can easily permanently put you on credit. And, WF never approved me for a line if credit or a normal loan, so getting refinanced at a decent rate was more difficult than it should have been. They also wouldn't split the card off so I could just pay down part.

In the end, it was my fault for being easily wooed and lacking self discipline. But they make it easy enough to step into and harder to step out.

It's easy to blame others but what it really does come down to is a lack of appreciation for what debt really is and how it really works. It's very easy to get approved for 3 credit cards each with a $5k limit and say to yourself "I have $15k to spend on anything I want." For someone who has never had access to a lot of money that's a very easy trap to fall into and it's pretty much what happened to me. Sure I had a savings account that was respectable for my age but that's not spending money you carry around in your wallet.

In my case credit was certainly not discussed with the family, or amongst friends (most of who reacted the same way I did to their first card), or in school. I've had a job since I was 16 so I understood the value of money but I didn't understand the value of debt until I already had it.

Thanks for the reply. It seems that credit cards are designed to tap into the human desire to live in the moment. I guess if you had to actually go to a loan shark and pick up a suitcase with $15k in it, and know that a goon was going to turn up weekly looking for the interest, you'd be a bit more circumspect about whose money it really is.

I remember the feeling of being young and constantly stuck for cash to do anything. It's frustrating so I can understand how cards provide a temporary reprieve. Just don't get them is the only solution.

I wasn't in that far a different situation from OP, at a similar age at the time. In my case, I grew up poor. I did what I did because I followed the advice of my parents and neighbors -- it's what they did, and they hadn't yet been bitten in the ass by it. Thankfully, I didn't get bit either.

Fast forward to today where I found long ago (~10 years ago) that getting serious about personal finance is a valuable thing. To my folks I might as well be speaking a different language, but I haven't paid a cent of interest in nearly a decade, and have maxed my tax-advantaged retirement accounts for the past 8 years.