Is Your Credit Naughty or Nice?

It’s the season Americans get caught up in the holiday spirit and throw financial caution and good judgment to the wind. Well-meaning people spend way over their means during the season and then stress out for the next year to pay down their overloaded charge cards. Statistics show that the typical American family carries more than $15,482 in credit card debt at an interest rate of around 14.5%.  While we should have good credit… is credit really good?

The term consumer debt stems from the word “consume.” Random House College Dictionary defines the meaning, “To destroy or expend by use; use up,” “devour,” “to spend wastefully.”

Even the word mortgage is not pretty, being derived from the Latin “mortuus” meaning death. “Gage” originated from Middle English meaning “to pledge or struggle.” “Death struggle” – I think that’s an appropriate term for what we today call a mortgage.

Let the buyer beware.

It’s easy to get angry at the banks, charge card companies, and stores for luring us in with “low monthly payments”. They have deceived us into believing we can afford their merchandise. They play on our vulnerability. Christmas decorations are in the stores by Halloween. Their advertising makes us want – no, makes us feel, we “can’t live without” their products. We must buy now. It’s THEIR  fault!

Or is it? Have we been duped? Has today’s buyer not been told?

I believe we know in the back of our minds; we simply choose to look the other way.   Let’s look at the words themselves. The truth is evident in the meaning of the terms we use so casually on a daily basis.

A debt-free life is a less stressful lifestyle. It insulates you from job loss and other financial setbacks. You could flip hamburgers to make the money needed for the bare basics and live comfortably if you were not paying astronomical interest payments. Many Americans are paying dearly by not enjoying the lifestyle they are working so hard to achieve.

As you can see, those two little words “charge it” has a very costly price tag. We need to think twice before we use our good credit. Patience is a true virtue.   We need to control our wants, when in actuality in only a few short months we could save the purchase amount. This habit, instead of charging, would put one much farther ahead financially. You may miss that special sale price, but is it better to be penny-wise or pound-foolish?

One thing is certain, as long as we continue “to spend wastefully,” we will find ourselves in a “death struggle” to meet our obligations.

‘Tis the season to be jolly. The true meaning of Christmas is NOT measured with the cost of the PRESENTS; it IS with the quality of the time we spend in the PRESENCE of family and good friends. 

Happy Holidays to all and a very stressless and debtless New Year!