Comments on: Simplifying Payments Isn’t Always So Simple

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:19:27 +0000

I have to agree with you, we have to stop borrowing and think we don’t have anyone to rely on except ourselves. That way, we learn how to earn extra income rather than relying on credits.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:07:17 +0000

Budgeting, yes, that would be the logical thing to do, and it would help more — if people were actually good at doing it. I’m pretty sure that no one thinks they’ll consolidate their debt and then go out and run up the credit cards again, but what is they say about good intentions?

At any rate I don’t think working on the problem has to take years or something. It could be just a couple of months of knowing that you’re really done with debt. There wouldn’t be all that much interest built up in a few months in most cases.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:54:48 +0000

Tread, I agree. And sometimes (or oftentimes, in my life at any rate!) the “obvious” isn’t very obvious.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:53:52 +0000

Chris that’s a good point too. The fees and hassle factor can be an additional thing to consider.

By: Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Another idea would to be to consolidate and immediately deal with the problem. For example, if you’re a credit card addict, consolidate and shred all the cards.

Wouldn’t that help more – to work on the real problem while the “symptoms” don’t just build up in the background?

By: Tread Softly

Tread Softly — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:49:15 +0000

You’re totally right about people needing to treat the underlying problem rather than just treat the system. Many of us look towards any solution but the most obvious to solve our money woes.

While training for my new job yesterday I was part of a conversation with two coworkers who were lamenting about their low-incomes and considering transferring to more lucrative, higher stress positions within the company. They continuously made veiled comments about not being able to “get by” or “pay the bills.”

Both owned cars and iphones – neither of which are requirements for employment in this company. I really had to bite my tongue to resist pointing out that no matter how much money these two made, their debt problems were obviously not related to income, but habitual over-spending. Earning more to get out of debt makes sense logically, but humans are anything but logical!