The founder of Billshrink on getting caught in the trap of credit card debt.

Question: What has been your biggest spending mistake?

Peter Pham: College. You know, I was in college and I was one of those first credit card you get not really knowing a lot and ran up my credit card debt quite a bit. Essentially, paid for my college experience, but regretfully not understanding interest rates. I mean, compound interest, penalties, and minimum payments don't last forever. That was the big, big mistake and I hope to educate as many people as possible to not get in the same trap. Coming out of that, I've learned a lot around how credit cards work and how the credit card industry actually is a profitable industry. For me, now, it's how do I get the most out of my mileage? I travel a lot; I use my credit card a lot and so I'm kind of getting back by making sure I have the best credit card in my wallet and being sure I'm earning the most amount of points.

Recorded on November 4, 2009