If one thing should be taught in schools about credit it should be that paying your credit cards off in full every month is the best way to stay out of debt and "live within your means." This one tact can give you the financial flexibility to endure bad times and take advantage of good times.

If you are not carrying a credit car balance then you are likely not going to be paying the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in necessary interest that can accumulate over a lifetime.

Here are your options. You can either carry a $5,000 credit card balance that garners you $70 a month in interest or you could take that same money and have it grow to $250,000 over a lifetime at an 8 percent average annual return. That's a lot of money to pay for the convenience of not paying cash!

Carrying a balance and its never ending interest can also lead to a huge debt that you can no longer manage. Credit card debt plays a big role in bankruptcies and other financial catastrophes. The actual trigger for the bankruptcy might be job loss, divorce or other setbacks but it is often the heavy burden of credit card debt that causes most people to have to file.

Carrying a heavy balance has other punitive effects as it leaves the credit card companies open do the following -

Deciding your fixed rate is no longer fixed and raising it or replacing your fixed rate with a variable one or both in order to make it more difficult for you to pay so they can make more money off of you over a longer period of time

• Raising your rate if you are late with just one payment
• Raising your rate if you use the credit card too many times in one month.
• Raising your rate if you pay just the minimum payment and don't make any dent into the actual debt.
• Raising your rate if you are close to maxing out the limit on the card
• Raising your rate if they get wind that you are also having problems paying back any other creditor.

Of course the only winners in this cruel game are those who refuse to play and who refuse to carry credit card balances form months to months.