Debt... bad for your health?

    First, special shout out to all the people out there reading my blog and leaving posts.
Leanne, Lpkitten, Arlene, Cynthia, Miesha, Jared, Cassie, Emily, Mighty Bargain Hunter, NCN, Anjie, Jaybew99, Annab, Richard and my guy -- thanks! Forgive me if I missed anyone. It's not on purpose.
    Second, Emily posted this link about Australia's wild plan to put warnings on credit card statements, explaining exactly how much money and time it would take to pay of the card if you just made the minimum payments. Read it here.
    I don't know if that would fly in this country, but I bet it would help a lot of people. I am convinced that most people in credit card debt have no idea how much it will actually cost to pay it off.
    I know I didn't. If I did I would have burned the things up or thrown them out the window. I was truly in denial -- and simply ignorant -- about how these things worked. My math was way, way off.
    I suppose I should say it's not the credit card that causes the problem. It's the lack of financial knowledge and most people's inability to delay gratification. Recent studies have shown that Americans just don't save money.
    But then again, this sounds a lot to me like the "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument. Nonsense. Credit cards are designed to make people indebted for as long as possible. Banks don't want you to go broke, because then you couldn't pay them. They just want you to stay in debt for the rest of your life because that's steady income they don't have to work for. Money for nothing? Sounds good to me, except I'm the one paying, not receiving. Were the shoes worth it? At 12%? No, they weren't.

    The folks over at Credit Blogger thought it would be cool to come up with a slogan for the warning.

Here are some ideas from me:

Excessive use of this device may cause night sweats, blurred vision, heart palpitations and loss of sleep.
    Or
The money on this card is not yours. Think of spending it as stealing.

Okay, now you try.

Comments

[Guy]

"Take a little...Give even more back..its that simple"

[Leigh Ann]

SO TRUE!!

[Jessica]

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