10 habits that lead to debt disaster

Sometimes the only way to stop a snowballing problem is to go back to the top of the hill and find out what started it.

If you're up to your eyeballs in credit card debt, take a step back and recount your money missteps. Knowing your weaknesses could help prevent you from falling back into the bad-credit pit and show you a way out.

According to Gail Cunningham, vice president of business relations at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas, a nonprofit financial-management service, consumers mired in debt make common financial blunders, most of which they can prevent with discipline and behavior changes. Learn from these mistakes and start paying off your debt.

Bad Habit No. 1: Misusing balance transfers
Bad Habit No. 2: Not checking credit reports because you can't change them anyway.
Bad Habit No. 3: Failing to alert creditors about a financial hardship
Bad Habit No. 4: Thinking of 'budget' as a dirty word
Bad Habit No. 5: Using retail store credit cards to make use of discounts
Bad Habit No. 6: Procrastinating on creating an emergency fund
Bad Habit No. 7: Paying bills in no particular order
Bad Habit No. 8: Charging purchases instead of paying in cash or with a debit card
Bad Habit No. 9: Making credit payments late
Bad Habit No. 10: Making the minimum payment only

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