A Beginner's Guide to Low Interest Debt Consolidation Loans
Looking for low interest debt consolidation loans can sometimes seem like looking for gold at the end of the rainbow, but loans with minimal interest can be had even by people with poor credit ratings. The most important things in trying to find...
Bad Credit Debt Consolidation Loan
Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
Nowadays, many people can get into a bad credit situation if they do not keep track of their income and expenditure. Many young executives suddenly find that they are being offered credit cards by various...
Consolidation Debt For Newbies
Consolidation debt to help get you out of the quagmire Will you agree with me if I tell you that, the key to financial success is to live within your means? This is an old belief that modern day income earners have completely forgotten. This is...
Debtor's Ethic
Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586…Broken Arrow, OK 74013…Pastor Terry Dashner…918-451-0270 “Beware of the Debtor’s Ethic” “Good deeds do not pay back grace; they borrow more grace.” John Piper Can a bad motive spoil a good deed? Should we, the...
Five Debt Negotiation Facts
These five debt negotiation facts along with a few debt reduction planning tools gives you the ability to control your own debt. For many people today credit card debt is a mounting problem and very few know how to successfully negotiate debt...
How Credit Card Debt Effects You
The statistics are truly mind numbing and continue to get worse
each and every year. At the current rate about 1% or one in a
hundred families will be forced to declare bankruptcy at some
point and over 90% of Americans' disposable income is spent
paying back debts.
Not a happy picture but as bleak as that sounds running won't
change it but knowledge may and so, let's take a quick snapshot
at a few of the current credit card debt statistics facing so
many Americans today.
The American Consumer spends over 1 trillion (that's a 1 with 12
zeros) per year on credit card purchases. Not a big deal in and
of itself but the problem lies in that they end up carrying over
and paying interest on about half that amount or $500 billion.
This translates into a balance of between $5,000 and $8,000 per
family, with about $1,000 per year going just to pay the
interest.
That's just the average - many people owe much, much more!
Excessive Debt Costs Everyone Money Many American receive at
least one new credit card offer in the mail every day. The money
being spent to service the debt industry is truly immense.
Billions are spent administering, calculating and marketing the
various aspects of the credit card industry.
Few industries or people escape unscathed, at least in the long
run by debt. The burden that bankruptcy puts on the court system
or the cost to government of providing subsidized debt
counseling, are just a few examples of how debt effects the
nation. In addition, consumers with excessive debt have less to
spend and when money isn't flowing, it hurts the economy.
Whatever Happened to Saving? Debt is becoming increasingly more
common. Not long ago, even a little debt was considered to be
absolutely unacceptable. When you wanted something, you saved up
for it and bought it ONLY after you had enough money to actually
pay for it. And, if you had less than perfect credit, you
couldn't even get a credit card. Look at consumer debt figures
as little as 50 years ago and they were absurdly low - the way
most of the
non-Western world is today.
The reasons are many and everyone has an opinion but regardless
of the reasons, the art of saving, at least in the "western
world" seems to have been lost. Outside of a 401K or similar
vehicle offered at your place of employment, virtually nobody is
saving enough for retirement. Banks are starting to have to
offer ever-higher interest rates to get people to put money
anywhere near a savings account. In fact, few people even have a
savings account anymore. Most people have a checking account and
that's it. Our society and progressed into a "now" culture and
the virtues of patience that help grow this country seem to have
been lost. Whatever it takes to live life in the present with
little regard for the future, appears to be the prevailing
sentiment.
Is Over Spending the Culprit? Ok, I've been a bit harsh up until
now but I don't want to give the impression that the only reason
you're in debt is because you continuously and frivolously
overspend. Other factors are involved.
Truth be told, many people get buried in debt because of the
loss of a job or an illness and they use credit cards to pay for
basic expenses. As a result, they fall into the downward
interest trap spiral as their debt grows out of control from
just a few thousand dollars initially borrowed to pay for
essentials.
Most people do have a reasonable sense of what they can afford
and they don't just go out and use credit cards to buy any and
everything. Getting heavily into debt is usually a combination
of many factors but the problem lies in people leaving balances
on their credit cards for too long and not realizing just how
deadly compounding interest really is to their financial
well-being.