You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
-- William J. H. Boetcker
“Sir, I’m sorry, your card has been declined. Perhaps you have another card that will cover the cost of your meal this evening?”
“Ma’am, at this time we’re unable to process your credit card and cannot make your reservation. Please try another hotel.”
“On 00/00/2007, you applied for an XYZ credit card. We are unable to approve your request for the following reasons...”
“Ma’am your card has been declined and the credit card company is recommending that I take the card and hold you here until a representative of the card company gets here to read you your credit card agreement.”
Sound familiar. Hope not. Hopefully each of us is handling our financial business so that we don’t have these kinds of situations to deal with. But for those of us who aren’t, and those of us who could do a little better, please read on.
Most of us have found comfort in using and living on borrowed money. We have a plethora of credit and charge cards, home loans, school loans, personal loans, loans from mom and dad, Uncle Joe, and even from our kids’ piggy banks. But when it’s time to pay them back, when the bills fall due, in walk our problems. We either can’t repay them or don’t want to repay them. Sometimes we borrow more money to pay back the other money; sometimes we file bankruptcy. Sometimes we get lost or leave town altogether. Nonetheless, our debts still exist until they are cleared, and until they are discharged, our financial freedom is not secure.
A National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey of Americans’ budgeting and spending habits recently found that fewer than half of the 1,000 people surveyed had ever ordered their credit reports and nearly a third didn’t know the interest rates on their credit cards. Further, of those surveyed, 40% do not pay the full amount due every month on the credit cards they used most often. The survey found this to be particularly true of younger Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and lower-income Americans.
It is imperative you know what’s in your credit report. A credit report is an account of your payment history and lists your credit accounts, their balances, and your payment activities for each. The report also lists previous addresses and telephone numbers, previous and current employers, and any inquiries creditors and others (including employers) have made into your credit history. Your credit report is usually pretty thick, unless you’ve never had any credit, and though it can be intimidating and cumbersome, order it and review it carefully for mistakes and discrepancies. In these days of identity theft, you can’t take any chances that your credit report is correct; you may find that a boat, motorcycle, and brownstone in the Bronx that were bought in your name and credit, then reposed and foreclosed in your name and credit.
Each year (once every 12 months), you can get free copies of your credit report from the 3 credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, by visiting the website www.AnnualCreditReport.com, by calling (877) 322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form (available online from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf) and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
Today is the day that you find out the interest rates on all your credit obligations. Maybe there’s a way to reduce that interest. Perhaps if you called the card company and asked for a lower rate, you’d get one. Who knows? All you can do is ask.
Today, take serious steps to alleviate the financial burdens your credit cards are placing on you. And, in the words of an exasperated parent, worn from years of bailing a child out of uncontrolled debt,
“If you can’t buy it with cash, you don’t need it. Don’t have any cash? It’s ‘cause you got too much credit.”
Sadiqqa © 2007
-- William J. H. Boetcker
“Sir, I’m sorry, your card has been declined. Perhaps you have another card that will cover the cost of your meal this evening?”
“Ma’am, at this time we’re unable to process your credit card and cannot make your reservation. Please try another hotel.”
“On 00/00/2007, you applied for an XYZ credit card. We are unable to approve your request for the following reasons...”
“Ma’am your card has been declined and the credit card company is recommending that I take the card and hold you here until a representative of the card company gets here to read you your credit card agreement.”
Sound familiar. Hope not. Hopefully each of us is handling our financial business so that we don’t have these kinds of situations to deal with. But for those of us who aren’t, and those of us who could do a little better, please read on.
Most of us have found comfort in using and living on borrowed money. We have a plethora of credit and charge cards, home loans, school loans, personal loans, loans from mom and dad, Uncle Joe, and even from our kids’ piggy banks. But when it’s time to pay them back, when the bills fall due, in walk our problems. We either can’t repay them or don’t want to repay them. Sometimes we borrow more money to pay back the other money; sometimes we file bankruptcy. Sometimes we get lost or leave town altogether. Nonetheless, our debts still exist until they are cleared, and until they are discharged, our financial freedom is not secure.
A National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey of Americans’ budgeting and spending habits recently found that fewer than half of the 1,000 people surveyed had ever ordered their credit reports and nearly a third didn’t know the interest rates on their credit cards. Further, of those surveyed, 40% do not pay the full amount due every month on the credit cards they used most often. The survey found this to be particularly true of younger Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and lower-income Americans.
It is imperative you know what’s in your credit report. A credit report is an account of your payment history and lists your credit accounts, their balances, and your payment activities for each. The report also lists previous addresses and telephone numbers, previous and current employers, and any inquiries creditors and others (including employers) have made into your credit history. Your credit report is usually pretty thick, unless you’ve never had any credit, and though it can be intimidating and cumbersome, order it and review it carefully for mistakes and discrepancies. In these days of identity theft, you can’t take any chances that your credit report is correct; you may find that a boat, motorcycle, and brownstone in the Bronx that were bought in your name and credit, then reposed and foreclosed in your name and credit.
Each year (once every 12 months), you can get free copies of your credit report from the 3 credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, by visiting the website www.AnnualCreditReport.com, by calling (877) 322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form (available online from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf) and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
Today is the day that you find out the interest rates on all your credit obligations. Maybe there’s a way to reduce that interest. Perhaps if you called the card company and asked for a lower rate, you’d get one. Who knows? All you can do is ask.
Today, take serious steps to alleviate the financial burdens your credit cards are placing on you. And, in the words of an exasperated parent, worn from years of bailing a child out of uncontrolled debt,
“If you can’t buy it with cash, you don’t need it. Don’t have any cash? It’s ‘cause you got too much credit.”
Sadiqqa © 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment