debt
Maybe it's because I'm not getting any younger or maybe it's because of the crowd I've been running with or maybe it's just the time we're living in, but I'm hearing an awful lot of anxiety about all the debt we're in.
Credit card debt especially.
You're maxed out and they're raising your APR something crazy.
And I know credit cards. I've got some of them. And I know anxiety. I've got some of that, too. But how many nights sleep are we going to lose over it?
We don't need good credit. We don't need credit cards. We didn't used to have those things and we can live without them again.
My friend K says, "c'mon, what if your car breaks down and you need to fix it, well, you'll need a credit card then."
What I'll need is a bicycle and a bus schedule.
Good credit is nice. You should keep it if you can. But plenty of people live perfectly normal lives with really bad credit.
There are no debtor's prisons.
The worst-case scenarios:
They tell you to cut up your credit cards. They take away your car in the night. Maybe they even take your house. (That last one really sucks, I know).
But then you figure out how to get an apartment. And you get that bicycle and you get that bus pass. And you tell the collection agents to stop calling you. And you send them a letter and you "cc" the attorney general and you insist that they stop calling you. And it's OK. You have your body. You have your creative mind. You have the moon and the stars and you have every right to be here. And you have every right to a good night's sleep.
And repeat after me: There are no debtor's prisons.
posted by Contact at 11:14 AM
16 Comments:
indeed!!
as my mother always says, "they can't take away your birthday!" :)
I think you need good credit to rent an apartment. I think you needed this even back in "my day" the early 90s.
ah, thank you for that deep breath.
drfantastic: In my experience, it all depends on *which* apartment.
Absolutely! I haven't had credit cards in years, and I'm a single mom, and we do just fine. In a weird way, the financial crisis makes me feel a little bit better about my credit because people are going to have to pay cash for things anyway. Credit scores mean even less right now.
(drfantastic--you do need good credit for an apartment w/ a big management company, but there are always alternatives renting from private people)
Exactly. We can get along without our blackberries, gps systems, eight tvs per house,...Love your reality checks!
Some people can't rely on a bike and bus schedule. Some people live 25 miles from the nearest grocery store. And some people live nearly 2 hours from a town with a bus system. I'm just sayin' that a bike and bus isn't going to help everyone.
When in doubt, don't. You'll feel better if you don't owe.
A wonderful reminder!
I'll tell you something...even bankruptcy can't save you, you're better off with the bad credit and no car. Months after our discharge I thought our tax refund would get us those new tires that went bald long before the winter snow buried us.
I thought it would replace the leaky faucet that new washers and plumber's tape can no longer contain.
Most of all I thought it would replace five pairs of kids' shoes because darn it these kids won't stop growing no matter how much we cut down on food.
Instead we get a letter from the trustee informing us that our tax refund just about covers his fee...$200 an hour to explore every purchase we've made, every cent that never actually made it into our pockets because it went directly to a creditor or utility company and, of course, the undesirable job of deciding if visa or MasterCard is more deserving of the few hundred dollars that's left after he paid himself.
But I like xuxE's mother's mantra "they can't take away your birthday!"
@drfantastic: you don't need good credit to rent an apartment. I've rented apartments and houses with bad credit, some in the hood, true, but some in nice neighborhoods. There are alternative to renting from management companies, and such rentals aren't hard to find either. I found some simply by looking in the paper, or walking around places I was interested in living and looking for 'for rent' signs.
Can you imagine if there WERE debtors prisons in this day and age!
Amen and amen. By the way, I just finished How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead, and you should expect a thank-you note in the mail soon.
oh my. you make it sound so easy. so .... simple. You make it sound like renting an apartment is super duper simple when you have zero dollars, zero credit, and.... zero job.
Um. How do you think people become homeless?
I think the "worst-case" scenarios you describe are not actually "worst-case" at all. Not even close.
Ariel, I love this post. And to it I say- hear ye, hear ye. Most americans are NOT poor, not at ALL. We can stand to fall a long way. And get rid of a lot of crap.
Absolutely. A much-needed reality check!
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