WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Coming out of the holiday season, many Americans are trying to figure out how to manage their credit card debt. A national survey by LendingTree found only half of cardholders are confident they can pay their next credit bill.
Sherri Goss is the president of the Rosenberg Financial Group, and she's no fan of credit card debt.
"It's just robbery. I mean I just really hate credit card debt," Goss said.
She believes people get overwhelmed and excited by holiday sales.
"You get caught up in that instead of looking at your own budget and how much money you can really afford to spend and then cutting back into what's affordable," Goss said.
LendingTree reported only 51% of credit cardholders are confident they can pay their credit bill in full after the holidays.
Goss said part of the problem is that people can just swipe their card and not pay attention to what they're actually spending. When you use cash or checks, you think twice before handing it over.
"If you're having trouble controlling your spending, I would say stay away from a credit card and go back to a bank account and writing checks, physical checks. Write them at the counter, takes you longer, makes you think about what you're doing instead of just swiping cards everywhere. Swiping cards just makes it way too easy," Goss said.
According to Federal Reserve data, the average interest rate on cards has reached 21% an all-time high in the past three decades.
Tina Harvey lives by cash because she doesn't want to pay anything extra.
"Baby I've always been a cash girl. It's easier to get and cash is just more simpler to use. You have it right there and you can count out and see what's going out," Harvey said.
If you have multiple cards with debt, Goss has advice to pay them off. She said just paying your monthly payment isn't enough anymore.
"You're not going to get anywhere because interest rates are so high now and so you've really got to lay a plan. What I would recommend is if you have multiple credit cards you're in debt with, take the smallest balance, knock that out first. Then take the money that was going to that credit card, knock it on the next one," Goss said.
Harvey believes everyone should start paying attention at the register.
"And think about what you need. The necessities over what you want. You have to be smart with this and I've had to learn that too," Harvey said.
Goss suggests for the next holiday season, make a list of who you're getting gifts for and put a dollar amount next to it.