Lesbian sex, abortion, gay marriage and … credit card debt.

That mixed bag of hot-button topics is just a small sampling of what’s in Esquire’s “Survey of American Women,” released in the May 2010 issue. The just-for-fun study complied the results of about 10,000 women who took the men’s magazine survey online between Feb. 4 and March 3, 2010.

Most of the questions centered around relationships (If you knew you wouldn’t be caught, would you cheat?), sex (If you were or are a lesbian, what celebrity would you sleep with?) and plain old hawtness (Who’s the best looking man in America? Hint: See picture above.) But readers also got a small peek at the financial habits of today’s Esquire-reading women.

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Think that you are the only one deciding to use your credit card less? If so, think again as when it comes to the switch to using debit cards more than a credit card; the cardholders in the United States are not alone. Like America, our Australian counterparts have decided that it is now time to change the type of plastic they have come to enjoy to something that is not as costly to use.

When it comes to overall card usage in Australia it is reported that more than 275 million transactions are record each month (of that an average of 116 million are contributed to credit cards) over the past five years. While the number of card usage is staggering, over the same time period Australian credit card usage has dropped nearly 17% and is expected to drop even more within the coming months. In what seem to be the story across every country, the reasoning for the usage decline does not seem to be surprising. It is due to high interest rates as well as increased fees.

As was the case here in America, it seems that cardholders around the world are starting to move toward living within their means, and using their own money instead of borrowing it from banks. In many cases the use of debit cards has increased dramatically and has taken center stage as the card to use. While no one for sure knows exactly how high or long the trend of switching to debit cards will last, the thing that is for sure is that it is not just one single country that has made the move and many more will probably soon follow suit.

If you are interested in a credit card balance transfer you need to know the good and bad before making a final decision. You may find that this is the perfect option for you. Of course, you may also learn that moving forward with a balance transfer would be a huge mistake.

Here are several credit card balance transfer tips to consider:

1. The credit card company is betting that you will make a mistake along the way – and most of the time they are right. By a mistake, they hope you do not pay your balance in full before the promotional APR expires. This way they can charge you a high finance charge, and in turn make a lot of money off of you.

2. Y

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As all things seemed lost for business owners in the fight against “interchange fees” at least until 2011, it seems that support is coming in by the millions to help reignite this issue. In a effort to have Congress re-evaluate their decision to hold off on making any changes to the industry petitions with millions of signatures have been sent to help showcase the urgency on the growing need to have these fees regulated to help drive down cost to businesses.

In an effort to help regulate interchange fees otherwise known as “credit card swipe fees”, over the past two years many companies have asked their customers to sign petitions in hopes that these will change the mind of those in Congress to act sooner than later.

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If you have credit card debt there is a good chance that you are interested in getting rid of it as soon as possible. No matter who you are, this type of debt can bog you down and make your financial life more difficult to control. Although you make look at your situation and wonder how you will ever make progress, there are things you can do to get moving in the right direction.

The best way to quickly get rid of credit card debt is to pay it in full. If you send one lump sum for your entire balance, your debt will be gone in a snap of the fingers. While this sounds good on the surface, you know it can be difficult to do – especially if you have a large amount of debt.

If paying in full does not suit you, it is time to devise a plan for paying off your credit card debt. This may mean a longer period until you are free, but at least you will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. For example, if you owe $10k you can break this down into five $2k payments. With this plan, you know at the end of five months or so (due to finance charges) that you will be free from your debt.

To get started, know how much money you can throw towards your credit card debt right now. If you do not have enough to pay your entire debt in full, now is the time to think about devising a plan. No matter which option you consider, getting rid of credit card debt in a quick and efficient manner is more than possible.