Owning a credit card means not only access to more credit, it can also be a convenient budgeting tool.
In the first instance, carrying a credit card rather than cash or a cheque book is much safer and more convenient. You don't have to keep rushing off to an automatic teller machine to draw cash.
It is also a useful method of payment. It can be used to pay for anything from groceries and unit trusts to holidays and travellers cheques, a spokesman for Standard Bank says.
At the end of each month you receive a detailed statement listing the purchases you made, helping you keep track of your monthly budget.
All you have to do is to remember to stay within your personal credit limit.
The extended payment facility on credit cards also helps you to pay off larger purchases over a fixed period of up to 60 months.
Your credit card can also be used as a savings card, because of the good interest rates you can get on a credit balance.
The key to using a credit card, according to Ann Bramhill, Public Relations Manager at First National Bank, is that you must make it work for you.
"It is an excellent way of running your household finances, provided you are disciplined," she says.
While it is true that buying on credit can be expensive because you are charged high interest rates, your credit card gives you up to 55 days free credit if you know how to use it correctly.
Bramhill says that most banks which issue credit cards do a staggered statement run to cope with sending out large numbers of statements.
The important date is the one which appears on your statement. Any purchase you make after this date will appear only on the next statement and then you have an extra 30 days free credit in which to make your payment.
So, if your statement is dated September 25 and you pay for your new stove on September 26, it will appear on your October 25 account and you would have to pay for it before November 25.
It is important that you ensure that your payment reaches the bank by the cut off date, because after this you will be paying an interest rate of between 27 and 29 percent, depending on which bank has issued you a credit card.
You may consider a debit order on your current account to ensure that you pay your credit card on time.
The alternative is to decide what amount you are going to spend on your credit card and put this amount, say R1000, in the account in advance.
This will not only provide you with interest on your credit balance, it will prevent you from getting into the situation where you forget to pay your credit card, Bramhill says.