Credit card delinquency? (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

Agreed, but it would seem more valuable to set up a personal savings account for the same purpose (or even give it to a trusted friend for safekeeping if you think you can't keep your hands off it). Then, as you reach certain goals/amounts, use it to make balloon payments to reduce your debt(s) that much faster.

If you're deep in debt, just giving away your money to any organization doesn't seem like a smart thing to do.

 

[Anthony_J]

While I agree that stowing money in away in a savings account would help more in this situation, giving the money to a third party helps to teach discipline in that the money is actually unavaible.

Thankfully, I don't have any credit problems, but I can't begin to count the number of times I've attempted to save a couple hundred per pay and couldn't do it because I didn't have the discipline. It was just too easy to get the money.

And I'm an accountant, so I should know better. What's that saying "The shoemaker's kids have no shoes."?

On the other hand, maybe tithing to a church helps to win favor from God, who can "take care" of the creditors for you...

 

[Malcolm R]

I hear Santa Claus accepts checks as well.

 

[Eric_L]

The Greeks considered prudence to be the greatest of the cardinal virtues. Charity is one of the seven heavenly virtues. You seem intent on insulting people who may express that virtue in a way you cannot or would not.

It would be prudent to be respectful of the posts of those here, and charitable to refrain from insulting, flamable, and trolling language.

Charity need not be cash - it may be time or even blood. I would never trivialize the vaule of a donation of any of these things - to the giver or receiver.

 

[Chris]

Well, if giving a small ammount of money to a dept. store santa works for you, that's fine too.

The idea is not to stick it into savings.. at first. Later, after you've become disciplined that you just don't have the money, then yes, you can do that.. because that way you won't miss it.

But, putting it into savings will not help you. Trust me, if you have serious problems you will immediately raid the savings account everytime you shortfall on something else.

The idea is not to beat all problems, but to set a budget, and become used to having a set amount of money that is not available to you (period).

If you chose to give it to your favorite bum, that's fine too. Santa claus, the easter bunny, Bhuda, Islammic temple, Church, or Easter Seals, that's fine. The idea isn't to join a faith - although many people do it that way - it's to instill discipline.

We also aren't talking about giant chunks of money. Start out very small if you want.. $5 a week or something similar. But work your way up. After you've developed the discipline, you can realistically start to save, because the temptation to raid those accounts goes way down, because you start budgetting for the money not being there.

 

[Malcolm R]

It would be prudent not to introduce religion into any thread, per the rules of this forum. I consider posts invoking that subject to be equally insulting, trolling, and inflammatory as you apparently consider the ensuing responses.

I'm not the one who brought up churches and tithing. All that person had to say was "donate to charity." But no, someone had to specify churches, tithing, etc., when it's totally unnecessary. That's inflammatory.

 

[Cees Alons]

Maybe, but it specifies what the poster means. Also, it's rather general. If it stays by that, it can hardly be construed as discussing religion.

For all clarity: all, please do not go further in this direction. Everyone has made himself clear and we like the thread to go on about its original topic, to the advantage of the original poster.
Consider this a warning.

Thanks.


Cees

 

[Scott L]

Exactly, speaking from personal experience as a spoiled suburban grown college kid, tithing to my local "charity" has helped me get some responisbility about setting aside some cash for certain expenses instead of splurging it while browsing the DVD aisles at Best Buy.

It's a good idea, whether a charity, religious institution, or savings account.

 

[Malcolm R]

You'd just better hope your creditors don't get wind of the fact that you seemingly have money to give away to charity, but are claiming you don't have the money to pay them.

If you're debt-free, or at least not delinquent, give away all you want to whoever you want. But when you have creditors and collectors calling you daily because you're late, you can't afford to spend money that doesn't go toward critical living expenses or reducing your outstanding debt.

 

[Eric_L]

Actually, that would be incorrect, at least regarding titheing. For many of faith, titheing is compulsory, no less so than taxes. No creditor in their right mind would suggest a person skip their taxes, and it would be a PR nightmare for them to suggest the same of titheing.

There is much to be said of the costs/benefits of titheing, but this is not the place to share them. I do think it fair to note that titheing is not something I practice, nor am I compelled to, but I do understand it and those who do. I practice tolerance.

Now, giving unusually large donations to charity, particularly compulsively and sporatically, could be either a sign of mental illness (compulsive spending) or, if the charities are not 'up to snuff', fraud.

However, none of these things are the issue presented by the original post.

I think that the link to the creditnet looks promising. Creditors have long shared info to colelct debts - it is nice to see a resource for debtors to have a resource to help avoid being taken advantage of.

A collectors job is not to force anyone into BK - It is to collect as much of a debt as possible as quickly as possible, before a person files BK. Honestly helps them do so.

IF a collector is not being helpful, ask to be re-assigned. As with most careers, there are varying degrees of skill these people have.

For any more help we'd need to get more info, which may not be apropriate here. Often you can get help from professional associations, or help from an aquantance at a social club or other resource (maybe where one could tithe..) who could sit with you and sort through these issues more specifically. Many of these resources offere credit management courses run by volunteers who are professionals in the indusrty.

 

[Chris]

Realize also, not to do anything with faith but money discretion, a credit cannot force you to account for every dollar.

If you blow a big wad of money on a big screen TV, they'll see that; but if you spend $5 a week or whatever, they can't "track it down" and find out how you spend your money; it's no different then if you bought a lunch at McDonald's that day

Which, btw, is my other suggestion getting back to the point: if you do eat out, stop. Eat at home more often; cooking at home is not only better for you health wise, but much more cost friendly. Take a peanut-butter sandwich or a ham sandwich or whatever to work instead of going to McD's or any eat-out restaurant. If you do need to eat out, set a budget and try to spend little. You can eat a hamburger and a water at McD's for less then 75 cents if you have to.. but you'll be better sreved to bring your food.

Also, when you buy groceries, if he's on his own, shop for more value solutions. Canned soups, etc. are not only good for you, but per serving cheap.

You can quickly save yourself a couple hundred a month with a diet that's good for you, and cheaper to get.