Having been through the Credit System and landed in real financial trouble, I can honestly say that I would not recommend for anyone to take out any form of credit unless it is really necessary - e.g. A Mortgage or a Car Loan - the things that you would really never be able to save for.
The problem, at least in the UK, seems to be that so long as you have Credit and it is being paid, you can get as much more as you like, no matter where the money to pay for the credit you already have is coming from.
We got to a point where our income was around £900 per month and the amount we were paying in credit was nearer £1000 per month, and we were using one card to get cash to pay another. Anyone can see that this will end up with a problem.
If you do take Credit, ensure that it is from a Reputable Institution, that is Licensed with your country’s Personal Finance Institution, and that you read the small print on the Credit Agreement. Do not take out more credit than you can afford to pay back the minimum payments each month and do take out insurance to cover for Illness and Redundancy - hope that you won’t need it, but assume that you might.
If things do become a problem, do NOT ignore it, but take it in hand, get advice from Citizen’s Advice or a Credit Counselling Service and act on the advice given. Speak to your Creditors, believe it or not they do want to help because they want their money back and helping is the best way that they can see most of it come back to them.
Leaving the problem will not make it go away, but will mean that you are likely to face financial ruin, with the worst case scenario being Bankruptcy.
The bottom line is that Credit is all around us and is offered in Glossy Commercials with the promise of the world, we all need it at some point, but we should all do what we can to live within our means and not allow Credit to be the way that we finance the basics in our lives.