The Skinny On: Credit Cards, by Jim Randel, is a delightfully fun read. I don’t mean this in a “I am a finance geek who loves reading about this stuff” way, either. The book actually makes learning about credit cards fun.

Intro and First Impressions

The cover of the book itself is attractive. I love comics (as evidenced by the fact that I post one every Friday), so the stick figure on a credit card grabbed my attention. The testimonial at the bottom was a great eye-catcher, too. It’s from Gerri Detweiler, one of the expert authors on Credit.com.

Upon opening the cover, I was pleasantly surprised by the free bookmark that comes with the book. The bookmark also doubles as the glossary so that all of the key terms you need to know throughout the book are right at your fingertips (words like annual percentage rate and prime rate). Not a huge thing, but neat nonetheless!

Credit Cards are Born

“America began to change on a mid-September day in 1958 when the Bank of America dropped its first 60,000 credit cards on the unassuming city of Fresno, California… a mass mailing of cards: a ‘drop’ … There had been no outward yearning among the residents of Fresno for such a device, nor even the dimmest awareness that such a thing was in the works. It simply arrived one day, with no advance warning, as if it had dropped from the sky.”

Credit card debt is now $1 trillion and the average household has $10,000 in credit card debt. And herein lies the need for a book of this nature.

The Storyline

The book follows a couple: Beth and Billy. They are a typical couple in that they don’t always see eye to eye. Especially in regards to money. A typical day consists of Beth figuring out the budget and Billy shopping for a motorcycle. It is an area of contention.

We learn about each of their financial blueprints and are left asking ourselves why we treat money like we do.

And in comes Jim Randel to save the day. He explains to Beth and Billy exactly how credit card companies make money and clearly explains how they are losing out. For example: If Beth and Billy left there credit card debt at $25,000 , and stopped spending, at an interest rate of 15% and a monthly payment of $500, it would take 79 months to pay off the debt. Six and a half years later and $39,500 and they would finally be debt free.

Jim goes on to discuss the power of compound interest, how credit cards target college students, how to talk to said college student about credit cards, basic rules of credit cards, the importance of FICO scores, ways to lower your APR, balance transfer cards, and methods to reduce debt. He also goes over the 15 most important points to understand about credit cards in more detail at the end of the book.

1. Credit cards are a loan.
2. Preapproved is not prequalified.
3. Credit cards are going to be harder to get, and to keep.
4. Low monthly payments are not your friend.
5. The credit card agreement is very one-sided.
6. Make a budget!
7. Credit cards are deliberately designed to make borrowing very, very easy.
8. Watch for warning signs that you are incurring too much debt.
9. Protect yourself against credit card fraud.
10. Keep up your FICO score.
11. Be a comparative shopper.
12. Don’t be sucked in by rebate or reward programs.
13. Credit card issuers do not want to lose your business.
14. Learn the strategies of reducing debt.
15. Take personal responsibility.

Do I Recommend It?

When all is said and done, I think this is a great book for someone who is new to personal finance. If you consider yourself to be a little more advanced, you probably won’t want to buy this book for yourself. However, if you know someone who could benefit from learning about how credit cards work and how to avoid credit card debt, this is the perfect book.

This would also be beneficial for the more advanced high school and college students. Even if you think they are “advanced,” this book is sure to contain information on credit cards that they don’t know.