Credit cards are tools that can make your life easier and give you more financial power, but they also provide a quick path to financial ruin. It’s important to use common sense when wielding the massive buying power that plastic provides, especially if you’ve just started using credit.

Life and My Finances warns against making mistakes with credit cards. Treating credit as a way to spend above your means for things you don’t need is a major no-no. Signing up for department store cards in order to receive tiny discounts, making big-ticket buys in snap decisions and lending your card to others are also bad ideas that you may end up paying for in more ways than one.

Check out the source link for other mistakes to avoid, as well as savvy ways to use credit cards.

Credit Card Dos and Don’ts [Life and My Finances]

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