Seven Rules for Using Credit Cards
March 18, 2025
Credit cards are a great way to build your credit history and improve your credit score, but they come with some pitfalls that you’ll want to avoid.
Successfully using credit cards requires proper planning so that you don’t end up with piles of debt at bad interest rates as a result of overspending.
- Have at Least Two Credit Cards
- Pick the Right Type(s) of Credit Cards
- Keep Balances Low and Pay Your Bill in Full Each Month
- Know Your Interest Rate
- Don’t Use Balance Transfer Cards for New Purchases
- Avoid Closing Old Credit Card Accounts
- Devise a Plan To Keep All Credit Card Accounts Active
If you follow these rules and use credit cards responsibly, you can build a good credit score that will benefit you throughout your life when it comes time to apply for things like an auto loan or home mortgage.
Stout Bowman regularly posts important and interesting information on our blog. Current topics include credit/debit/loans, estate planning, insurance, investing, Medicare, retirement, Social Security and taxes, as well as general information that we think you might find of interest. 
We have been publishing an email newsletter for our clients and friends since 2016. Links to all of the newsletters can be found on our newsletter page, with the most recent listed first. We try to keep our emails short, so there are typically only three articles in each one, most of which link to other articles in the financial and mainstream press. 
We also have a page on our site for the latest news about our company, notice of any upcoming events, and a market commentary to discuss what our advisors and other financial industry experts conclude about the previous investment performance and what we might expect the markets and the economy will do in the coming months. 
Many news organizations offer what is called a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed, a listing of the latest changes to their site's content. We have subscribed to several of these news feeds and present a list of their latest ten articles on a page on this website to save our clients the hassle of going to multiple websites just to see what is available. Currently, we subscribe to 
At Stout Bowman every investment client is first a financial planning client; it's important to go through that process before we make any professional investment recommendations. Therefore, we strive to make financial planning understandable and comfortable every step of the way. One way to do that is to provide our clients access to financial education resources. To that end, we have subscribed to educational websites to receive their news feeds and present a list of their latest ten articles on a page on this website. Currently, we subscribe to