Miss a few payments and you may well end up with a record which raises a red flag when a potential new creditor looks at your history. Credit is easy to come by when you have plenty of tangible assets and a solid income stream. No doubt you have already noticed that lenders of all kinds just love to lend money to folks who don't need it. For those who are not so fortunate, my advice is to start young and use credit, but use it carefully. Then, when you really need to borrow serious money for something very important, you'll be considered a good risk and find an easy path to obtaining the loan you need at a reasonable cost.
Plastic deserves a special word of caution.
Most of you will continually receive pre-approved new credit cards almost weekly. As many have learned, this is a vicious trap which will eventually suck you into the depths where your only out may be bankruptcy. That may save you once but just wait until you try to get a home mortgage or some other serious amount thereafter. Copyright 1997, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved.