Credit card debt–some of the ugliest words you’ll ever hear. No one wants to be in credit card debt, owing money to issuing banks at often high interest rates. However, a lot of credit card debt is manageable, where consumers either pay off their balances in full regularly or they can pay off significantly more than the minimum payments due each month without really hurting their overall budgets. Is yours manageable? How do you know when you cross the line from an “okay” amount of credit card debt to too much? These five warning signs may hint at trouble:

1. You can only pay your minimum payments.

Minimum payments are generally quite a small percentage of the total credit card debt you have. They’re designed to favour the banks–not you. When you pay the minimum payment month after month, you drag out your debt often over years. All that does is make your overall debt larger, costing you more in interest.

2. You use credit cards for routine expenses because you have to.

If you’re forced to put yourself in debt with credit card companies just to pay your rent, utility bills, or to purchase food for your household, you’re living too far beyond your means. There’s nothing wrong with using a rewards card like the Citibank Gold credit card for routine expenses like groceries if you want to accrue rewards points and pay off the debt each month. But when using a credit card is your only choice because you have no disposable income left, you’re treading a dangerous line between a temporary setback and too much long-term credit card debt (as those routine expenses will tack on interest and still need to be paid over time).

3. Your credit cards are nearing their limits.

If your credit cards are maxed out, or close to it, you’re probably in too much credit card debt. This often happens when people look at credit cards as a way to keep spending beyond their means–they max out a card and then move onto another one while very slowly paying off each balance. Those limits add up quickly, and too much debt on any single card can look bad on your credit file – creditworthiness is often a matter of looking at how much credit has been extended to you versus the credit balances you actually maintain (higher limits and reasonably low balances are more attractive to potential lenders).

4. Your credit application was denied.

Uh oh. You just applied for a mortgage, auto loan, or (dare we say it?) another credit card and your application was rejected. If banks aren’t willing to lend you money anymore, chances are good that you’ve accumulated too much debt on your existing credit cards or accounts.

5. You repeatedly make late payments.

It’s bad enough if you only make minimum payments, but if you find that you’re struggling so much that you can’t even afford to make those on time, you know that your credit card debt is getting out of control.

Before you can even think about ways to get out of credit card debt, you have to know how much trouble you’re in. If any, or all, of these warning signs apply to you consider re-evaluating your situation, and coming up with a plan to pay down that debt. And if nothing else, stop charging!