Pick A Card, Any Card

And you wonder why they can't balance the budget.

Forty-eight members of the House and three from the Senate had more than $10,000 in family credit card debt last year, with some carrying balances totaling more than $50,000, according to their personal financial disclosure reports.

The recent filings reflect both one-term large charges paid off promptly and longstanding debts carried on the same cards over years. In the latter cases, credit cards are often a poor choice because of their high interest rates and hidden fees, personal finance experts said. The average interest rate paid on credit cards nationally in 2005 was 14 percent, according to creditcards.com, well above the rate for other forms of personal debt.

Most of the lawmakers with high card debt, though, denied they were poorly managing their own finances, saying they were beating the prevailing rates and avoiding the high fees. Although most said they were keeping a close eye on their credit scores, some said the rating was not a concern to them because they weren't planning to borrow money soon.

Strange. They don't seem to mind "borrowing" our money.