There are many reasons why people end up with more debt than they can possibly handle on their own. One of the main causes of personal debt is misuse of credit cards. Even though credit cards are such an important part of the American way of life today, there are many people who don't understand how to use them effectively, let alone realize how easy it is to overspend and plunge themselves into debt.

Many people get their first credit card as soon as they are allowed to, when they are 18 or sometimes even younger. Never having been educated in the way that credit cards work or the pitfalls that abound with their use, many young people see credit cards as "free money" and buy up everything that they want without showing any concern of how they are actually going to pay for it. They just figure they will be able to pay for it all "later."

They most likely didn't read the fine print on their card, and don't realize just how high the interest is that they will be charged when they carry a balance on their card. As the interest piles up month after month after month, and they continue charging purchases to the card, what was originally an amount that they couldn't afford becomes a debt that will take years or even decades to pay off.

Credit limits can't be trusted to solve the problem, as many people will simply take out another credit card. The best way to use a credit card is to pay off the full balance every month. If you never carry a balance on your card, you will never have to pay interest.

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