If I could give you just six words of advice, they’d be “pay off your credit card debt.” If I could add one more word, it would be “now.”

All this week CNN.com is running excerpts from CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi‘s new book,”Gimme My Money Back: Your Guide to Beating the Financial Crisis,”published by Sterling & Ross.  The quotation above is the last paragraph of today’s excerpt.

Credit card debt is extremely expensive. Interest rates range up to 30 percent a year. That means for every $1,000 you carry on your balance, the credit card company could be charging you $300 each year.

That $300 can mean a lot of things — a decent TV, a car payment or new clothes for the kids. Or you could invest that $300, so it would make more money for you. The one thing none of us should do is take that hard-earned money and send it to the credit card companies just for letting us spend more than we can afford.

If you have credit card debt, then those seven words will probably be the best advice you get all day.  Make it a good one.

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