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Americans are using their credit cards less, and Howard Kravitz thinks he knows why. People want more control in this economic environment, the Huntington resident said yesterday.

"I don't want to have outstanding balances on my cards," Kravitz said, "because if I need credit for a major purchase, I don't want to be overextended."

Like Kravitz, more Americans are keeping plastic in their pockets, according to statistics released recently by the Federal Reserve. In August, revolving debt - a category that accounts for nearly all the nation's credit-card debt - fell .08 percent, the Fed said to $969 billion, the first such decline after three months of consecutive increases. According to the Consumer Federation of America, 58 percent of people with credit cards don't pay off their balances each month, and those who carry a balance have an average debt of more than $17,000.

Since August, Kravitz, 51, a consultant with Richardson, a Philadelphia sales and training firm, and his wife, Susan, have worked at paying off nearly all his balances. He now uses just one card - his American Express - for corporate travel, which he now also pays off at the end of each month. He even relieved his children of their emergency plastic. Daughter Samantha, 21, attends the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, and son Ben, 17, is at Williston Northampton, a prep school near Springfield, Mass.

They were spending more than they needed to," Kravitz said, "and by enabling them in a down economy I was doing them a disservice." In an emergency, Kravitz will put cash in their bank accounts and they can use their debit cards.

Travis Plunkett, legislative director with the Consumer Federation of America, a Washington nonprofit, thinks such fiscal responsibility and the dip in revolving debt show more consumers are resisting the urge to swipe plastic. "It's the best thing you can do, if you can afford to do it," Plunkett said.

Candy Wright, a group manager with GreenPath Debt Solutions, a Michigan -based nonprofit with offices in Jericho and Hauppauge, said limiting yourself to one card is a positive step. If you carry balances, start working toward paying them off, she said. "Try to pay off the one with the highest interest rate first, and then keep working at the others," she advises.

Neither Plunkett nor Wright believes canceling paid-off cards will work against those with long credit histories, "particularly if you have a mortgage or a car loan," Wright said. Frequently opening or closing accounts negatively affects credit scores of people with short credit histories, she said.

Kravitz said he feels better about his financial situation. "Given the realities of this economy, it was time to get a little smarter."

Source : http://www.newsday.com/