Do I have to be delinquent on my accounts to file for Bankruptcy?
There is a misconception that you have to be behind on your bills in order to file for bankruptcy. You do not. One might ask, “Why would a person declare bankruptcy if they are...
Tagged: credit debt bankruptcy proposal counselling financial Trustee consolidation
Are you a Hot Commodity?
Financial institutions – banks, credit card companies, etc. have money. And they need to invest this money. And they need to make money on their investment. They do not loan us money because they like us, or we need it and our goals are important to them. (I am speaking from an institution perspective, your loans officer may care about you and your goals – the good ones anyway). They loan us money because they are investing in us
Beware the word CONSOLIDATION!
What comes to mind when you hear the word “Consolidation”? Do you envision all of your debts being ‘paid off’ leaving you with the manageable obligation of one monthly payment? If so, you are thinking about a “Consolidation Loan”. A financial institution loans you money by paying off your debt and you pay them back. With interest, of course. Nowadays, the word “consolidation” is being used in a much more liberal term
The secret to getting out of debt
Trimming your budget is a lot like trimming your waistline. Consumers spend millions of dollars every year looking for that magic solution to losing weight. And businesses increase their bottom line while relatively few consumers decrease their bottoms/middles etc. The same phenomenon happens in money management. We tend to look for quick fixes – consolidation loans, second mortgages, payday loans. Neither works for the masses. Why? They do nothing to address the underlying problem…
I’m making a stand with wet hands!
It’s been six long months and my hands are cleaner than ever. Who would have thought I would make it this far? I am referring to life without a dishwasher. Around mid-December, ours broke. My first reaction was sheer terror. I’m pretty sure I almost lost consciousness. Like many families struggling to make ends meet, I didn’t have any savings to buy another. The word credit kept flashing in my mind, but we were just managing what we had. I took a deep breath, pulled up my rubber gloves, and started washing.
No payment – No interest! No impulse!?!
Isn’t it wonderful? There is absolutely no reason to wait for something you can’t afford now. And the deal is much better than buying it on regular credit that has to be paid starting next month. Ah! what a wonderful consumer-driven world we live in.
It’s also dangerous. In fact, it’s a trap – a credit trap. The objective is to have you commit future income towards the purchase of something you just can’t (don’t want to) wait for. We are such an impatient society aren’t we? Wait! It gets better – you are further tempted (expected) to spend more than you normally would on the item(s) AND the gamble is that you won’t pay it off completely by the time it comes due.
Keeping up with the Joneses has never been easier!
I’ve been struggling holding off buying my kids a DS. My daughter is 7 and my son is 5. All their friends have one. I have a momentary flask back, “But Mum, I plead, all my friends have jeans”. (I was in Grade 6 and still wearing polyester pants). That was 1978. Oh how far we’ve come. Hmmm. Really. Today’s pleas would be “But Mum, all my friends have a DS, computer, ipod, cell phone, (fill in the blank).”
