> about 14 percent of U.S. households have a credit card balance of more than $10,000 That's amazing, but not surprising. I used to have some neighbors who st

> about 14 percent of U.S. households have a credit card balance of more than $10,000 That's amazing, but not surprising. I used to have some neighbors who started shopping for a house. Everything was going well - they had found a home they liked and had gone to apply for a mortgage. Which is when it was revealed that one of them had a couple of credit cards the other didn't know about - with a $14k balance on them. People debate over the best method to pay them off and get out of credit card debt, and it just doesn't matter as long as you get started. Once you get into the habit of watching the balances decline, then you can optimize by doing things like paying the higher-rate ones first, or paying off the smallest balance one first, whichever works for you.