AARPMoney Twitter Chat Wrap: Lynnette Khalfani-Cox

This is a guest post by Tara Finnegan Coates, editor for money and work content on AARP.org.

Thanks to everyone who had a chance to participate in our twitter chat Tuesday with AARP money expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox  ( @themoneycoach).  Lynnette is currently hosting  the AARP Pay Down Your Debt Challenge through Jan. 29 on AARP.org.

In case you missed it, here's some of the highlights from the chat.

• Americans racked up $20B on credit cards in November.
• Total debt (housing included) should probably be kept to 36% or so of income to stay in a "safe" zone
• The APR on a loan is really just the true overall cost of credit: the interest rate charged plus the fees involved.
• Good debt=mortgage, student loans, biz loans. Bad debt=credit cards, auto loans.

For more tips and a chance to win prizes by sharing your debt and money lessons on AARP, sign up for the Pay Down Your Debt Challenge. View a video message from Lynnette below.