Wouldn’t it be great to get along in this world without needing or using credit of any kind? This might be a question that more and more of us are asking these days. After all there’s a lot of us out there who are suffering in this latest economic downturn.

Even those of us who still have jobs feel the impact of the economic downturn. Many of our friends and family members are affected in a real way, and that hurts close to home.

In times like this we count ourselves lucky if we have been able to hold onto our jobs. But still it is inevitable that we will not very optimistic about the immediate future. There’s just no telling how long one’s own employer will be able to hold on before they start to make cuts. That certainly makes you wonder if it might not be better to get rid of those credit cards and live more realistically.

It’s easy to buy stuff on credit, things that we think we really need, counting on future income and good fortune to pay for it. And so the cycle continues on and on with balances ballooning to ever increasing heights.

Sure there’s always the excuse that you need a batch of credit cards for an emergency. The problem is, living so close to the line turns even a mild financial setback into an emergency. There is a great temptation to use that credit for things you would otherwise not buy. So much for your emergency fund.

Then if a real crunch comes, a real emergency and we lose our job, or our business take a down-turn, what happens? We use our credit cards and lines of credit to tide us over. And when everything is maxed out, what then?

Of course cutting up all our cards isn’t going to happen in most cases. However, just think of the savings on interest and late payments that could be saved if we used fewer cards and were more prudent with our credit buying. At least then, if hard times come knocking, we’d be on a more level playing field, rather than standing in a huge hole of debt.

If you’ve fallen behind on a variety of debts, there is no doubt that bill collectors will come calling. If things get nasty with intimidation tactics and you don’t know where to turn, remember that you have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

You can also pay a visit to a fair debt attorney who specializes in stopping debt collection harassment. They won’t be able to erase your debt, but they can make the harassment stop and can even get you compensation from the very agencies that are trying to collect from you.