 So wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where your credit card balance wasn't hit with crippling compound interest? It sounds nice, I would think, to live in that world. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world. And if you're someone who has had to have credit cards and use them a lot, chances are fair that you could end up in debt up to your eyeballs eventually. Talking about the kind of debt that can wipe out your savings and set you back years, if not permanently.