Have to disagree with Suze on this one

Suze Orman has changed her long-standing advice to pay off high-interest debt first and instead focus on building an emergency fund. In this article, she's quoted as saying "I want you to only pay the minimum due on your credit card balance, and instead, make it your top priority to build as much of an emergency cash fund as you can."

I'm not sure paying the minimums is ever good advice. I understand that people need to be prepared for economic downturns, but I agree with Trent at The Simple Dollar that it's too late to prepare for the crisis we're in at the moment.

Of course you need to build your emergency savings fund, but now isn't the time to be saving every extra penny instead of using it to pay down debt. Holding cash is a kind of investment. And up until now, it's been a relatively stable one. So Suze's advice would have been better ten years ago. But now inflation is coming, and the last thing you want to do is stockpile money at the beginning of an inflationary trend. You'll get to sit there and watch your investment (the savings you've accumulated) become smaller and smaller as your dollars are worth less.

By this token, it's true that your debts are also going to be smaller. Buy a car today and over time your car payments will seem smaller because the money will be worth a little bit less every month. Still, I don't think you want to pay only the minimums. I wouldn't change my basic advice; pay off the debts first, while building a modest emergency fund. Once the debts are gone, then focus on beefing up your savings. 

Another thing Suze says in the article linked above is "The sad reality is that the credit card industry is taking actions to protect themselves with no regard to your needs or how good you have been in paying your bills on time." This is true, and it's all the more reason to stop doing business with them. Pay off the debts, shred the cards, and stop borrowing money from these people.

(Incidentally, it's worth thinking about what the credit card industry is trying to protect themselves from. There's a lesson here about unintended consequences that few will likely take to heart.)