Plastic surgery for your pocketbook

By Robin Marsh, NEWS 9

Do you need a little plastic surgery? MSN website offers this advice for credit-card deals and other trends and traps that will affect you tomorrow and for years to come.

Have good credit and you don't have to tolerate rising rates.

Banks are fighting  for the best customers. If your credit score is 720 or above, you should be paying 10 percent or less. Try negotiating for lower rates.

If you carry a balance, concentrate on finding the lowest-rate card possible. But if you pay your bill in full every month, make sure to shop around to find the best rewards offers once or twice a year. Sites like cardratings.com, bankrate.com and Creditcards.com may alert you to good deals.

One thing to beware of is applying for too many credit cards, it can hurt your credit score. Try and limit your applications to one or two a year at most. Also don't apply for new credit card if you are in the market for a big purchase like a home or a new car.

The average person has about $10,000 in credit card debt and about 60 percent of active  accounts are not paid off monthly. Avoid late and over-the-limit fees. And avoid using more than half your credit limit at any given time. Set up automatic payments to make sure your bill is paid by the deadline.