Dont blame yourself for Being in Debt.

[Neild300]

Hi, All

It can start with a random letter through post with an offer a credit card with £500 limit. You either apply for it because you could use £500 at the time or its a `just in case we need it` reason, but instead of seeing it as the credit card companies money, you see as your £500. You dont think much of it until few months later its maxed out and you dont even know what its gone on, even tho the minimum payment of say £12 a month is`nt breaking the bank theres an element of stress at the back of your mind that you now owe a company £500. And in my case this is where is began, then about 6 months later you get a statement which shows the limit has gone up to £1000 because you`ve missed no payments, it happens to be near xmas or maybe just feeling low and want a pick up and treat your self. In a blink you now owe £1000, this is stress slowly builds up, you take another credit with another company to ease that stress and have some spending money like you did before and before you know it you owe thousands. I now know credit card companies etc are not as generous with upping credit limits without first checking your income and outgoings. These companies are after one thing, making money and as much profit as possible. After recently going bankrupt I am now on a pay as you go attittude to life, have full control and plan to be happier and enjoy the rest of my life. What way works best for you to get out of your hole do it, life is too short. The simpler you your life is the better.

Good Luck to all.

Neil



Neil Jenkins

[zarron]

a very good description of how easy it is to get into debt and this mirrors exactly how i got into 72k worth of debt over a ten year period.

the 'only paying the mimimum repayment amount' for that month seems a great idea at the time leaving you more disposable income but that just catches up with you over a period of time as the interest piles on to the ever increasing balance that never gets paid off.

thanks to finding my way onto an IVA i now am on the pay as you go method too and plan to keep it like that for the rest of my life (with the exception of a possible mortgage post IVA).

By taking excessive credit you are just robbing yourself of your future income making yourself poorer in the future all for the sake of having something now rather than waiting.

i bought a new sofa through my overtime money last month (saved over two months) and it felt so good to have paid it off in full and know there was going to be no statements for payments for it coming through the post every month.

thats the feeling i like and is going to be the blueprint for my financial future!

[Neild300]

Hi,

Yes I learnt its so easy to get in debt but so hard to get out of it. Also the feeling these credit and loan companies own you, it causes stress at work, with family and friends. your jsut scraping the minmum payments and have no quality of life. Theres come a time when you say `No more`.

Thanks for your input :0)

Neil Jenkins

[cr15py]

I fall in to the self same category. I started off with a £200 credit card, which quickly became £1,000, then £2,000 (which I paid off with a loan) - that card was soon back up to £2,000 and before I knew it I owed £16,000 on credit cards!

Yes, it is my fault - but the credit card companies do have a lot to answer for in my opinion. But they will just argue they are in business!

[sonyse2t5]

Creditcard companies are now tightening up on credit. Barclaycard are reducing credit limits on some customers and more are refused CCs.

If these tougher creterias on CC borrowing were in palace 10 years ago,none of those now on an consumer IVA would be here on this forum.

The exception would be business related IVAs.

[mish1953]

Its all our fault and our parents fault, and the government and the banks and financial institutions - but mostly societies fault .

Why I hear you not asking .. 'cos ..
we live in a society that is now consumer based, the economic policy is based on growth, big business and capitalism is king.. no Im not a rabid socialist !

In the '70s credit cards were not readliy available, we owned fewer goods, credit was hard to get, as a country we made things and the country was in dire economic trouble. The govt (all of them ) needed to get the economy moving to do that they 'freed' up the financial regulations, it became easy to get credit, we bought more 'things' , we were persuaded to buy houses, councils were encouraged to get rid of their housing stocks and sell them.... we have more stuff now, we expect to be able to have 'nice' things .. the ecomony booomed .

We need to understand that credit is bad, evil, the slippery path to destruction ... [}:)]

We have limited resources - your wages, we need to learn to save for stuff that we need, we need to teach the next generation .. do you really 'need' those trainers, PS3, holiday abroad or whatever .

We screwed up !
Hopefully we learned.

When I was younger ... rant, mumble, dribble ...

Slainte
Mish


Will an automatic discharge hurt.

[bagpuss]

I agree Mish....as said on another thread about this....it just didnt happen years ago...but now its like people just cant wait for anything and want it all now.

Young un's buy a house and want all the mod cons right away....instead of like our parents and parents before had to have what they could afford and nothing else...second hand furniture...etc

But there are so many things available now that wasnt back then...1000's of types of TV's comapired to just 2 of years ago.



Angie xx


My IVA Story......http://bagpuss.blogs.iva.co.uk/2007/09/ ... iva-story/