Top 7 credit card posts from the blogosphere

The personal finance blogosphere is bursting with excellent and useful information. I've culled seven of the best credit-related posts from the last week or so and present them below for your reading pleasure.

1)    Flexo at Consumerism Commentary provides 10 steps to break the credit card habit. He explains several ways you can stop the cycle of dependency on your plastic and become more responsible with your finances.

2)    Money Under Thirty compares free credit reports and credit monitoring services. He explains which you should consider and which you should skip. This is very handy if you have been trying to decide which service you should use.

3)    You are usually safe shopping online with a major retailer, but shopping with a small, unknown business on the Internet can result in identity theft. The Consumerist has a post on how to determine if an online retailer you've never heard of is trustworthy.

4)    Randall at Credit Withdrawal gives four reasons why credit cards provide cash back rewards, and provides an example of how you can benefit from these cards by planning carefully.

5)    Being Frugal's Lynnae writes about the silliness of the "you deserve it" phrase so frequently seen in advertisements. She discusses why she'd rather be debt-free than indulging in things she "deserves."

6)    This one is a little older, but a great post: Jeremy from Generation X Finance lists 15 ways to establish and improve your credit history and FICO score.

7)    Green Panda Treehouse compares the quick growth of credit card debt to weeds, and gives several tips on how to use credit cards wisely.