Debit vs Credit and Who to Believe

Debit cards are tied to your personal accounts. When you use it the money comes right out of your account. You're using your money. The biggest problem with it is that that little plastic card makes the money so easy to slip right out of your account!
Credit cards are tied to an agreement you made with a lender to be ready on the spot to loan you money. When you use it you are using someone else's money and tying up your future earnings. Plus it comes with the agreement that you'll pay interest (which is how they make money and why they're willing to loan it to you!) on terms you've already agreed to - although you probably don't know what they are since they're usually written in really tiny writing!!!! The interest rates are often high. In any case, if you only pay the minimum they require each month you will pay for a very long time and you'll end up paying a LOT more than you borrowed in the first place.
There are times when credit is necessary. But not nearly as often as we think it is. And as long as you owe someone money you're in bondage to that degree.
There are lots of experts in the financial field and they can give you lots of ideas and helps in understanding how to make it through these turbulent times financially. It has, however, been our experience that some of their thinking doesn't always line up with the counsel of the current day living prophets. The prophet counsels us to go into debt with great caution and only when it is absolutely necessary, borrowing as little as necessary. Then to work hard to get out of debt as quickly as possible.
If we use a credit card to establish a credit rating for when we absolutely need to have it available we should do so only when we already have the money in our account and pay it off in total immediately. If we use a credit card because ends just won't meet then we should look carefully at the ends and make changes if possible to make them meet as quickly as possible.
If we have a problem with our credit - or debit - cards being a little too easy to use it can be helpful to go to a 'cash only' system for awhile to make things a little more real to us and to help us control ourselves a little more.
The counsel from President Harold B Lee (I think) is so true in financial matters.
Never give up what you want most for what you want now.