Your statement will show that you must make a payment by a certain date each month. If you miss it, you may be fined a late payment charge. If you're behind with your payments, this could also show up on your credit history, which another potential lender might also see.

An easy remedy: ask for a direct debit form from your card issuer. You can then choose to pay off the full balance every month, or the minimum payment, automatically from your bank account.

It's easy to slip into a pattern of paying just the minimum payment each month. But it means, of course, that interest is building up, month after month, on every pound you owe. If you can't pay the balance off, at least try to pay a bigger amount each month. You can use a repayment calculator from Which? (an independent consumer body) to work out when you're likely to pay off your credit card bill and how much more quickly you could pay it off by making a higher monthly repayment – see Related links.

Don't confuse credit cards with debit cards when you're at a cash machine. If you use a credit card to withdraw cash, you'll normally be charged an extra fee every time. Some credit card companies also offer credit card cheques but bear in mind that they charge interest from the moment they're used.

Many leading shops and stores have their own credit cards. They offer benefits such as extra discounts for cardholders only, and preview days for sale goods ahead of the general public.

However, many store cards carry very high interest rates if you don't pay them off immediately - in some cases, double the cost of ordinary credit cards. Be careful to check their APR rate before taking out another card.

Some credit card companies send you blank cheques to use, mainly in situations where you would like to use credit to pay, but the supplier does not accept credit cards. Credit card cheques are used in the same way as normal bank cheques, but any money you spend using them is added to the amount you owe on your credit card rather than coming out of your current account. This means you will pay interest on it, usually from the day the cheques are used. In addition, you may be charged a handling fee by the credit card issuer (usually a minimum of £2 or 1 or 2%).

Not only can credit card cheques be costly in interest and charges, they do not offer the same legal protection that credit cards themselves offer. For more information on credit card cheques see the UK Cards Association’s website – see Related links. For more information on credit card protection see Getting help.

Credit cards have their advantages, but they're not always the right choice. If you can't pay for what you're buying and need the help of some extra funds, consider a bank overdraft or a personal loan – see Loans for more information.