March 2, 2009
-
The Miracle of Credit Card Counseling, Pt.1
Hunky-dory, at first.The latest epidemic our nation is facing today is probably the credit card sinkhole over job loss. It seems like most of our economic woes are based on that. So, maybe, good credit card counseling is the way out. It certainly was for this Missouri couple. They had quickly fallen into $40,000 worth of despair when credit card counseling came to the rescue.
Even with the huge debt that might have helped with their other debts, they still couldn't make ends meet. Now, they were in danger of losing their home. Their message to those still in financial despair is that, "with some discipline, it's still possible to climb back out again. What a relief that is". With four children and a ‘nice' house with a $70,000 annual family income, they had managed a modest financial reserve but still, found themselves living ‘paycheck to paycheck'. They thought all was ‘okay'. They never gave serious thought to finances and lived a comfortable lifestyle, frequenting restaurants and other entertainment venues. They never thought twice about living off credit cards and always carried ongoing balances as the finance charges kept steeping. They even took the slightly proactive approach of paying an extra $50 over minimum on those credit cards.
Beyond that, though, they paid little mind to budgeting and took a major financial leap by enrolling their kids off to parochial school. The added expense now, was $600 every month. Minding the bank account was not a priority because they always had money flowing in and could always work a little overtime to shore things up, it necessary. Then came the boom when the husband lost his good-paying job and was out of work for six months. Things started to unravel at that point. All the severance pay went into paying off a car loan. Living expenses stayed at the same level and, meanwhile, credit card payments started to become a problem.