"Iceberg dead ahead!!!"
Posted on 02/23/2008 12:00:19 PM PST by traumer
Like many Americans, 34-year-old Jack Zenteno and his wife, Betty, found their finances taking a severe hit from the housing crisis.
"My wife went into real estate right when the market began to fall apart," Zenteno said. "And it occurred at the same time I lost my job."
With no savings to draw from, the Zentenos found themselves quickly racking up $30,000 worth of credit card debt — mostly to pay for daily expenses.
As more homeowners struggle with skyrocketing house payments, several experts expect many of them to start using their credit cards as a means to get by. Once unpaid balances reach five figures and interest rates creep past 20% or even 30%, however, credit card users face trouble.
"Anybody who is having trouble servicing their mortgage is going to try using credit cards to finance those other expenditures," said Tom Cargill, an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Nationwide, the use of revolving credit — fueled largely by credit cards — kept increasing throughout 2007, according to a recent consumer credit report by the Federal Reserve. Use of revolving credit rose 11.3% in November. In comparison, revolving credit increased 6.1% in 2006 and 3.1% in 2005.
The rise in credit card use has led to brisk business for counselors specializing in debt reduction and financial management. Reno-based Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Northern Nevada has seen demand for its services double after the housing market started its downward spiral in 2005. The increase has been fueled by consumers struggling with credit card debt, said consumer credit counseling service manager Natalie McKinnon, who has seen people come in with as much as $100,000 in credit card debt.
Used wisely, credit cards can be convenient, particularly for people who exercise discipline and pay their balances
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
People who live beyond their means deserves what happens when they finally hit the wall.
With every problem, it is the human condition unfortunately that we have to hit bottom before we learn a lesson.
If we continue to enable people to avoid hitting bottom, we are only perpetuating the problems of society.
That would be the GOAL of the Democrat party!
Secure your retirement first. Then think about house and family.
We’re beginning to feel like IDIOTS because we do save for a rainy day. We don’t live beyond our means.
What’s really bad is the mortgage companies getting in bed with the government to bail people out at YOUR EXPENSE.
If we continue to enable people to avoid hitting bottom, we are only perpetuating the problems of society.”
Exactly but people aren’t being allowed to hit that rock bottom. The GOVERNEMNT is stepping in so they have no incentive to LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS. THIS is precisely what made the Depression so bad - GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION.
Elections have consequences, and just about all of us with 401K are investors/shareholders.
Hell, we'll pay or bleed either way due to liberals.
Yes, you are a moron. The coming wave of inflation will eat your savings too. Those people who work hard to do the right thing will get sh!t on. Those who act irresponsibly will have politicans bending over backward to give them a Government bailout. After all, there are so MANY of them.
BTW—don’t feel along. By this definition, I too am a flaming moron.
I understand where you are coming from.
The government and banks are deeply devoted to punishing you if you try. ;)
Very true.
Also true:
Nations who live beyond their means deserve what happens when they finally hit the wall.
We are speeding toward the wall at full throttle.
How exactly do you “quickly” ring up $30k in credit card debt?
As a reader and poster of these types of stories, I am really beginning to wonder where reporters get these people for their sob stories. And why are people agreeing to reveal their stupid financial sense to the world? Are they being paid? Since they have no shame, I’m trying to think of a reality show/game show I can create with this theme.
With every major problem, comes a knee-jerk solution from Congress, followed by catastrophic unintended consequences, requiring massive new regulations.
—Playbook Democrat Congress
Very wise words indeed. Me and my wife started with nothing in our early 20s but always planned for our retirement. The house and family also got taken care of, but wanting to be secure in our old age was very important. Our adult kids are doing the same. We're in our mid-fifties and comfortably retired, house paid off, and no debts. And we worked our butts off and got no help from anyone else, unlike many leeches out there today.
My husband and I have been at the bottom more than a few times. We would take stock of our resources, ie, talents, and used them to pull ourselves back up. We knew how to cut expenses to the bone and how to survive whatever the situation. Those skills were honed by growing up during the Great Depression and the Great War II.
I used to wonder the same thing. I've made my share of dumb decisions, and paid for them, but I generally prefer not to make them public.
Recently, however, a woman (middle-aged and supposedly professional) came to work where I work. In short order, she'd told pretty much everybody that she and her husband have been through a bankruptcy, had their house foreclosed on, and had a vehicle repossessed.
Nobody really wanted to know, and it pretty well confirmed the impression that she's a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
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