Michelle Singletary, who writes the nationally syndicated column, “The Color of Money,” is my favorite personal finance writer. She dispenses down-to-earth advice for the average person, and it is usually spot on. So in December, when she featured a new book on credit cards in her column, I took note.
The book, Confessions of a Credit Junkie: Everything You Need to Know to Avoid the Mistakes I Made, by Beverly Harzog is a cautionary tale by someone who got themselves into serious credit card debt, and managed to dig her way out. What was shocking to me, was that Ms. Harzog was a Certified Public Accountant when she found herself drowning in debt. Speaking from her personal experience as well as her professional expertise, Ms. Harzog’s book discusses:
- The seven ways to use a credit card to rebuild credit
- How to get out of debt using a balance transfer credit card–and pay zero interest while doing it
- Credit card strategies to save on groceries, gas, and travel
As someone who tries to keep to a budget and never charges anything I don’t have the money to cover, I could not really identify with Ms. Harzog’s story of extravagant spending on designer clothing, which she relates in the early chapters of the book.
Where the book really shines, however, is in the plain English discussion of the laws governing credit card issuers, and in particular, the different regime covering personal and business credit cards.
Harzog details consumers’ rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).