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It's Normal To Use Credit? |
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Submitted by Jennifer Bander
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According to a commercial that I have seen, at least once every time I turn the TV on, it looks like a good, normal life to use credit lines. In just sixty seconds, this commercial portrays the life of a couple. They meet, they get married, they have babies, they are middle aged, and finally they are senior citizens and grandparents. All along, it shows flashes of the different credit cards, that go along with the themes of the various stages of this couple’s life. They have a great, healthy life, using credit cards … in sixty seconds. At the end of the commercial, the voice over says… “We offer over NINE HUNDRED credit lines for your needs” or something like that.
Nine hundred credit lines available from one bank. WOW! What does this commercial paint? What does it do to our acceptance as a whole society for using credit lines to pay for our lives? It makes it look normal and healthy. These people are successful, relying on credit through the various stages of their life.
There should be a commercial that shows them opening the bills. It would show their stress with more bills on items, they charged, after one of them loses their job. The added medical bills when the children are sick and need countless doctor’s office visits. Health care insurance just doesn’t cover it all, anymore. The two SUVS in the driveway, the fuel and maintenance… the payments. They live in a house, in Suburbia, USA that has a hefty mortgage and upkeep. They pay out the wazoo for daily childcare, so they can earn two incomes, to pay for all this stuff. They fight a lot, mainly about bills, things they think they “need” and how they never get ahead. Other family members are constantly trying to give them financial advice. On Sundays, they show up at church, looking as if everything is fine and dandy. It's normal, because they’ve been in debt, ever since they got out of college, started their careers and got married. They are one or two paychecks away from financial destruction.
Well, this is reality. This is the way it really is for a large statistic of young American families. It’s easier for people to read something like this and think, “Oh, it’s not that bad for us… we only carry a little debt.” What is a little debt? The national average of credit card debt is around $9,000.00. If this is the average, that just means that many people whom are the ones who say… “It’s not that bad for me” are somewhere near or above this average for credit card debt.
I was almost $14,000.00 in credit card debt alone, when I finally opened my eyes. I had many other needed expenses of life also. I could not make ends meet. I had lots of great clothes and some great toys. Mainly I had a crutch, that whenever an emergency happened, I pulled out one of eight credit cards. Or if there was a special event, I pulled out a credit card. Any excuse was reasonable. Paying my bills was like a juggling act.
There are millions of Americans living this way. They have been misguided by commercials like I’ve mentioned for many decades now. It can change for you, starting with taking “charge” of your personal financial life. The key is in your hand! The plain, easy and right in front of your face truth, is nobody or nothing will make it easier to pay off those debts. There is no magic cure.
Now for the good news, with acceptance of the problem, you will be able to find a way to be happy, free and wiser way before the debt is completely gone. You can live life without using credit lines at all and stop adding to the debt. It can be done!
With so much hope to help millions of people, I wrote Use Cash To Buy It, to share my own experiences with paying off a large credit card debt. I survived and got more gifts from life then I ever imagined I would. I have freedom, happiness, and wisdom. I have grown as a person. I don’t use credit lines anymore at all, buying only what I know I can afford with cash up front. It’s definitely a better way to live.
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