The Harbinger

So, recently I found myself a nice little job at Chase in Lake Mary. I’ve been enjoying it a lot, outside of this bruise that showed up recently on my entire lower leg, doctor says I have what is called travelers bruising. One thing I have noticed though is it is extremely easy to get yourself into a hole you will never be able to pay your way out of.

You would be amazed at how many people call me nightly with balances of $25000 and higher literally begging me to do something for them as far as lowering their payments go. Hey, I’m not an ATM! But seriously, I think I might be growing a heart or something because I am starting to feel for some of these people. It wasn’t too long ago that I was in the same lonely boat myself, drifting in the dark lake of credit card debt. I have visions of how I would like music video’s to go before I actually see the video, and I think my vision for The Decemberists Summersong would accurately tell what it feels like to be on that boat.

Credit cards are easy to use and hard to resist. Just put it on credit and worry about it later, no harm or foul. But then that one purchase turns into 4 purchases and those 4 become 10 and it keeps going and going. I’ve spoken to people who have said using a credit card is like an addiction, and I’ve spoken to people who have been sobbing that they will be on the streets if they had to pay the entire $30000 back in their life time. People have this idea that a credit card is their money, or they may even have the idea that it is free money. It is neither, it is a loan to be paid back in a one month time frame.

I’ve also spoken to people who think it’s not a big deal if you blow off, say, $21000 in debt. Blowing it off and thinking no one will come after you is the biggest mistake you could ever make, I know because that is what I did. It took me 9 years just to pay back $3000. $3000, no big deal you say. Well, for someone who isn’t going to take any help from others it is hard. Credit card companies might not come after you personally, but they will pass it on to a collection agency that will be more then happy to go after you if you owe more then $5000. Sometimes it’s even less then that.

Just a few words of advice if you have a credit card or are thinking about getting one; Never charge anything you can’t afford to pay back in a two week time frame. Basically if you don’t have the money to cover it now, or you won’t have the money to cover it in two weeks, don’t charge it on the credit card.

Another thing too, if you don’t pay the card back in a timely manner please understand there will be finance charges attached to that balance. This is calculated at 2% of whatever you owe, so if you are thinking about blowing off the payment until after the due date just do that quick little calculation and it will give you an idea of how much you are going to owe in finance charges. That could make the difference in blowing off the payment or making it.

If you think having a credit card is becoming too much for you, or you are slowly finding yourself addicted to putting everything on credit, cut the card up and throw it away. It’s the easy alternative to being saturated with debt you can’t possibly pay back.

I don’t claim to be an expert, I just play one in customer service. But hopefully someone out there will take some bit of knowledge away with them before it is too late.

Lisa Risa is I live in quiet, and at times boring, Deltona, FL. I am married to Mike and we have both been on the many incarnations of the board since 1999. I love writing, photography and collecting antiques.
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