Debt has reached staggering levels among North Americans. Unfortunately, there is deficiency of research that investigates effective means of helping consumers control their debt. We examine how control priming changes consumers' irresponsible financial behavior. We show that control priming reduces credit card spending and intentions to take credit card risk. We also show that consumers who score high on self-esteem are more likely to benefit from control priming while those who score low on self-esteem show a backlash effect.