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Credit Card Debt: Is Silence to Blame?
By Sallie Bentt
I'm sure by now you've encountered the following harsh
statistics: Eighty percent of American households have credit
cards and carry an average balance of $7,000. Nearly half of
American households struggle to make minimum payments
on credit card bills and the past few years have seen record
numbers of personal bankruptcy filings.
The statistics are both staggering and depressing. Credit card
debt prevents Americans from quality time with family and
friends, deprives millions from doing what they truly love and
diminishes savings for emergencies and for the future. And,
credit card debt perpetuates a great debate: Who's really at
fault? Are consumers at fault for spending too much or are
credit card companies the problem for providing easy access to
thousands of dollars, money deceiving to the financially
inexperienced.
Opponents of credit card companies describe the marketing
practices of lenders as predatory and irresponsible, depicting
lenders as corrupt for profiting from an individual's debt.
Fair enough but are lenders solely responsible for the
overwhelming debt of millions?
The opposition of this argument supports that responsibility
lies with the consumer to make responsible spending decisions
and argues personal debt as inexcusable because individuals
should know how much is too much. "You have no one to blame
but yourself," is the underlying theme of this argument.
Still digging myself out of debt, I've been there and quite
honestly, I support both sides. I had a full time job in the
non-profit world earning $17,000 a year. Not a salary to brag
about, but I loved my work and at twenty-two, it was more than
I'd ever earned in my lifetime. I knew credit cards were trouble
and tossed the daily solicitations promising instant access to
thousands of dollars.
I was aware, however, the time had come to start responsibly
building my financial future. I opted for a gasoline card as a
safe way to begin this process. Easily able to make the
negligible minimum payments, a few more cards seemed harmless,
especially from stores that gave discounts in exchange for a
credit card.
Five credit cards later it's safe to say I was overwhelmed.
A year later, I found myself unemployed and financially
devastated. My credit was wrecked and the consequences were far
more reaching than I could've possibly imagined.
I give you this example to demonstrate the lack of
responsibility on behalf of both parties. It'd be fantastic
if creditors took a different approach to marketing
practices, but they make profit phenomenal profit from
consumer debt and aren't going to stop doing what works.
Likewise, a person should know how much is too much.
Removing blame from the equation for just a moment, the bottom
line is that millions have struggled with credit cards and
personal bankruptcy filings are increasingly on the rise. And,
each year the cycle of debt starts anew. It's a scary fact that
bankruptcy before age 30, the direct result of credit card
debt, is now more real than ever.
Who's at fault doesn't solve the problem. What matters is what
we know and we know there's a problem. Now it's time to
focus on the solution.
The solution lies in education. No one discusses personal
financial mistakes because of negative connotations attached
to money mismanagement. This silence, however, does a great
disservice to the financially inexperienced; they blindly repeat
the same mistakes millions before have already made. It's time
to stop the cycle and start educating people about how to avoid
credit card problems to circumvent very costly mistakes.
In looking at the blame equation, maybe silence could be added
as the third factor: While those of us who know the dangers of
credit cards definitely aren't the problem, our silence certainly
perpetuates it.
(c) 2001 Sallie Bentt. All rights reserved.
Start educating with Sallie Bentt's eBook- Debt Deception: A
Guide to Preventing Credit Card Debt- or resolve your credit
card problems with her newly released special report:
"Holding a Losing Hand? Information for Every Cardholder to
Eliminate Credit Card Debt". Drop by
http://www.DontDoDebt.com
for details and pick up free money saving tips!
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