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The do and don't list

Every rule on this page was earned somewhere else on this site, with maths and receipts. This is every guide on this site folded into one screen: the version you screenshot, send to a mate at the checkout, or read the night before your first credit card arrives. Each rule links to the page that proves it.

The short answer

Know what things really cost by finding the APR. Never decide about credit in a hurry, at a till, or to feel better. Automate the boring wins. Treat every "free" offer as a priced bet that you will slip. And when debt goes wrong, get free help early: the trap was engineered, and so is the way out.

Do

The habits that quietly win
  • Find the APR before you feel anything. One number tells you what borrowing really costs: roughly £10 a year for every £100 owed, per 1% of APR... or use the rent rule on the APR page. If you cannot find the number, that is your answer.
  • Say the whole sentence. Never "it's £20 a month". Always "£20 a month for how many months, totalling what". The lender knows the total. Match them. (What is credit)
  • Automate the boring wins. Direct debit for full card balances, standing orders for escape payments, calendar alerts for every 0% cliff and fixed-rate end date. Every trap on this site is beaten by one automation set up on day one. (Balance transfers, Mortgages)
  • Get on the electoral roll at 18, and let one small account age. A phone contract or one card, used lightly, paid in full, quietly builds the file that decides your future flat and mortgage. (Credit scores)
  • Check your credit file free, at all three agencies, once a year. Soft searches cost nothing and never hurt your score. Dispute errors: the file is about you, and mistakes are yours to fix.
  • Sleep on every credit decision. A deal that cannot survive one night was bait. This single habit defuses the till, the checkout button and the loan-in-minutes advert all at once. (Store cards, Crazy APRs)
  • Know that cash fades by design. About 2 to 3% of buying power a year, a third per decade. Plan every long-term decision with that fact on the table. (Inflation, Debasement)
  • Ask the site's question everywhere: who profits if I say yes? Not cynicism: navigation. The person who knows who is being paid can read any offer. (How banks create money)

Don't

The traps, all in one place
  • Don't borrow for things that vanish. Nights out, holidays and takeaways on credit mean paying interest on a memory. Credit is for things that outlast the debt.
  • Don't pay only the minimum. Minimums are engineered so the debt survives. At store-card rates, £25 a month on £1,000 can lose to the interest forever. The maths is on the APR page, and it should be taught in schools.
  • Don't decide credit at a till, ever. The queue, the smile and the "today only" discount are the design. Say "maybe next time" and watch the offer still exist next week. (Store cards)
  • Don't stack buy-now-pay-later plans. Each one feels tiny; the total across apps is your real debt, and the late fees plus credit-file marks arrive together in one bad week. Count every open plan before adding one. (Crazy APRs)
  • Don't treat your overdraft as spare money. At around 39.9% it is one of the dearest loans in mainstream banking, wearing a friendly name. (Overdrafts)
  • Don't borrow to repay borrowing. That is the spiral's front door, and the products waiting inside are built for repeat visits. Free debt advice first, every single time: StepChange and National Debtline are charities, not lenders.
  • Don't cluster credit applications, and don't pay anyone to "fix" your score. Hard searches in a bunch read as desperation, and everything a repair firm can legally do, you can do free in an afternoon. (Credit scores)
  • Don't confuse being offered credit with being able to afford it. Approval means their model expects to profit from you. It is a forecast, not a compliment. (What is credit)
  • Don't drift onto default rates. The 0% cliff, the fixed-rate end, the standard variable rate: every one is a tax on forgetting, priced on purpose. Your calendar is the antidote.
  • Don't be ashamed if you are already caught. Every trap on this list was designed by professionals to catch people, and it catches millions. Shame keeps people quiet and paying. Knowledge and one phone call start the way out.

The one-liner version

If you keep only one sentence from this whole site, keep this one: find the real price, sleep on it, automate the escape, and always ask who profits. That sentence, applied boringly for a decade, beats almost everything the industry will ever offer you.

Where every rule was earned

Questions people ask

What money mistakes should I avoid as a teenager?

The big four: borrowing for things that vanish, paying only minimums, deciding about credit under pressure, and stacking small debts across apps until they are one big one. All four are designed traps, not personal failings, and each has a page on this site showing the machinery with real numbers.

What is the best money habit to start at 18?

Automation plus the electoral roll. Register to vote the week you turn 18, then set every repayment you ever take on to pay automatically, in full where possible. Those two boring moves build your credit file, kill late fees forever, and defuse most of the traps on this page without willpower ever being involved.

Is all debt bad?

No. Debt at a known cost, for something that outlasts it, with a payoff date you chose, is a tool: that can include a mortgage or education. Debt taken under pressure, at rates you never checked, for things already eaten, is the treadmill. The test is never "is it debt?" but "did I choose it with the real price in front of me?"

Where can I get free debt help in the UK?

StepChange and National Debtline: both are charities, both are free, and lenders are required to treat people in difficulty fairly, including freezing interest while you get help. Contacting them early is the single highest-value move in this whole subject, and thousands of people your age do it every month.

Why should I trust this list?

Don't trust it: check it. Every rule links to a page where the claim is worked through with sources and dates, most of them primary: the Bank of England's own bulletin, lenders' own published rates, the official statistics. If a claim on this site ever fails your checking, that is exactly the muscle we are here to build.

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Last checked 25 August 2026. Figures are re-verified whenever this page is updated.