Posted on 12/28/2005 12:43:50 AM PST by SDGOP
Really?
May be true, but there again one has to know more about the comprehensive financial situation. My credit card has every single thing in my life on it. Why? Because I get frequent flier miles and I pay the bill in full and avoid charges anyway! Plus, it's very convenient. And at the end of the month I have a nice, complete record of everything I spent and where. Just read on msn money that checks are getting even more last century (new rules on processing, etc.). My point is that even though "necessities" may be on credit cards, that doesn't mean that people are needing loans to pay for necessities. It could just be convenience or some other incentive.
Best of luck in '06! I hope everything turns out OK.
If it comes to that, yours is the perfectly understandable and acceptable situation for bankruptcy. Even so, from reading your post, I'd guess you're the type who would simply file for an extended payment plan...not to stiff your creditors.
As stated here before, the bankruptcy scourge is caused by people who live hand to mouth, never providing for a rainy day. They may say the rainy day is "medical"...but it's really a cumulative result of their poor past decisions.
Obviously you're a responsible person. No argument on that -- but I do think a lot of people are having a hard time. No statistics to back it up, but a certain percentage probably got themselves into the jam and a certain percentage were victims of circumstance.
Congratulations on your attitude. And best wishes for your speedy recovery.
Thank you for the well wishes.
And you made my point much more succinctly, thank you.
Your right I won't stiff the creditors, these are my debts to pay if I get that extended. But that is not going to happen in my case.
This is why I find it difficult to square what the guy said in the first article (bankruptcy based on credit card debt is a myth). Someone is wrong here!
There have always been "party's over" folks out there. Some day they will be right. But now? Don't know.
One thing I never hear economist types take into account is the large cash (investment) stashes many people have these days. For example, many people made loads of money on a property. They bought the next property and, on paper, maxed out on mortgages etc., but they know they have a load in the bank/market.
Also as boomers start inheriting the fruits of their parents' frugality, responsibility (insurance, etc.) and plain old appreciation (or property held for many years, etc.), assets that don't show up as family income will have more and more of an effect on family spending.
Thank you, too.
FYI
What you said!
No doubt about it, there are legitimate situations for bankruptcy and I don't begrudge anyone in that situation for seeking relief at all.
But then I read the stories of someone like our fellow freeper here who is plodding ahead through a difficult patch in life, keeping his chin up and taking his lumps, and it makes me mad to think other people abuse the system.
And the system abuse is not just aggravating. It has real economic and social consequences.
i'm off to work. take care
I think there are two separate dynamics at work here and many posters are focusing on one and ignoring the other.
One the one hand we have the individual who is getting way over their head or is simply mathematically incompetent (publik skools?) and does not understand that the interest is going to bury them (there are people who think if you just pay the minimum you are saving money, you know). Either way, the individual is responsible for the mess he is in and there is no moral way around it.
The other dynamic is the practices of the major card issuers. Their sole objective is to COLLECT AS MUCH INTEREST AS POSSIBLE with a goal to maximizing income. They are about as concerned about customer-suitability as a crack dealer is about his clients. Unlike the crack dealer, they have enormous influence with congress and are able to have major laws rewritten with a goal of increasing revenues, decreasing write-off accounts, and preventing customers from locking them out.
If any one of us, as an individual, pursued the tactics the card companies do with loans and credit, we would be viewed VERY poorly in society (i.e. a scumbag), but when a fortune 100 corporation pursues a business model which can only be described in human terms as either predatory or sociopathic or both, they get a pass. Bad lending practices results in higher default rates, and the major banks know it.
Isn't free money!
enjoyed your comments
Good for you!
Most hospitals, etc. work this way. Sometimes they don't charge interest. They are happy if people just pay.
Also, there may be some kind of tax deductions for medical bills that help a little. (Not as much as the guvmint not taking your money in the first place, but that's another story!)
I also want to remind people about medical savings accounts. Check them out! Some even allow you to pay for OTC drugs, etc.
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