Lack Of Credit Card Discipline Gets You In Deep Debt
Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 9:47 AM | 1 Comment
Many folks get multiple credit cards and start purchasing things whether they need them or not. Quite a few consumers – some surveys suggest more than 10% of all consumers – buy things they don’t need. Some of them spend even if they can’t afford but because their friends spend.
The problem of credit cards debt is still extremely high and has gone higher the last couple of years. Recession or no recession has no bearing on some folks’ spending.
To be sure, many consumers find themselves deep in debt through circumstances that are out of their control.
Many lose jobs and struggle to keep up with bills. For others, unexpected medical expenses overwhelm their budgets.
But personal finance experts estimate that at least 10 percent of debt problems is a direct result of overspending – pure lack of discipline.
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Symptoms
Spending beyond means and accumulating debt are considered symptoms of deep, unresolved emotional issues and unmet needs.
Shopping becomes like a drug, just as work is for workaholics, and provides a temporary escape from worry and anxiety. You are then called shopaholic.
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Cause
Psychologists dealing with debt and personal finance suggest that the cause can be people with excessive debt associate money and material things with increased power, status and happiness, thus leading them to overspend.
That includes the desire to fit in with peers, the need to relieve stress or escape from problems, and the sense that their self-worth is derived from how much money they have to spend.
Sometimes, consumers overspend just to change the way they feel.
Some people are lonely. They go to malls just to hang around but they end up spending money unnecessarily, for no reason whatsoever.
You hear this a lot: “I wanted to have credit because everybody else had credit.” But they don’t think that other people may have the money to pay their bills on time.
In a Nutshell
Have discipline in your financial life. Nobody can help you but yourself. Those who spend out of emotional need say that there was a time when their situations weren’t hopeless.
And many have worked themselves out of mountains of debt. But still when you know you are in deep debt and you cannot afford to pay it back, then it’s time you stopped spending beyond your means. Start paying off your debt first.
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One Response to “Lack Of Credit Card Discipline Gets You In Deep Debt”
By Lightside Advisors UK on Apr 12, 2011, 3:17 am | Reply
We meet many people who through a lack of discipline and fear let credit card debts horrendously spiral out of control.
In the first instance we say talk to someone, anyone, a friend, a relative, just get your debt out in the open. Once you’ve done that cut the card up or leave it locked up at home and start making payments off the credit card debt that you owe.
Don’t forget to talk to the card company and explain your predicament and that you are willing to pay off the debt but can they work something out with you.