Some bankruptcy experts are advising consumers that the best way to avoid bankruptcy is to avoid credit cards whenever possible.

Attorney Gerald Miller, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in Oklahoma, told the Muskogee Phoenix this week that consumers who make just the minimum monthly payments could find themselves taking up to 28 years to pay off a credit balance.

Miller told the newspaper that if consumers can't afford a specific purchase, they should just "go without" for the time being. He went on to point out that many people currently in bankruptcy got there because of unforeseen setbacks like medical costs and other difficulties. He also said that only about a fifth of bankruptcy cases he deals with involve irresponsible spending.

"A lot of people would hesitate if you said, 'Go down to the local bank and borrow $5,000 or $6,000 on a signature note at 28 or 32 percent interest,'" Miller told the Phoenix. "They'd say you were crazy. But that's what they do each month when they use a credit card."

Meanwhile, the federal government is expected to take action to further protect consumers this week from certain credit card practices, most notably by ending "double cycle" billing and by limiting the ways lenders can raise interest rates on cardholders.

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