Don’t Ever Surrender to Debt!

I was talking to a co-worker who told me he had ordered a new notebook computer.  While we were discussing it, he said he ordered the top of the line model.  “I just had them upgrade everything, ” he said.

“What did that cost you?” someone asked.

“A lot, ” he replied.  “But I was putting it on my credit card and I’ll never be able to pay that thing off, so what difference does it make?”

Everyone at the table fell silent for a moment.  I wondered if they were thinking “That’s Dumb!” or “I know the feeling!”.

I ran up a lot of debt, but never did I think it was hopeless to pay it off.  Maybe I’m just an optimist.  I knew I was getting in too deep and tried to stop using the cards, but it seemed something would come up and I’d think “OK, I’ll use it one more time and then start getting it paid off”.

Sure I had my doubts that I’d be able to pay it all off (and still do sometimes), but I never thought about adding more to it thinking it didn’t matter.

I hope my friend isn’t still spending the same way and is working his way out of the debt.  Actually, he probably can’t spend that way.  With that attitude toward spending, I’m sure he reached his credit limit in a short time.

What is sad, is he hadn’t had the credit card very long.  He’d often use break time at work to balance his check book and had told me several times that he didn’t have a credit card and didn’t want one.  I secretly wished I was in the same situation.  I really hated to hear about him getting a card and already running up a bill he didn’t think he could pay!

Maybe I should have told him how envious I was that he didn’t use credit.  Maybe I could have warned him of the pitfalls that come with credit card debt.  I doubt if he would have listened to me, but who knows.  I’m writing this blog as a way to let others know, so maybe it’ll help someone avoid a mistake!

If you are about to charge a purchase to your card and you are already wondering if you’ll ever be able to pay it off, take that as another warning sign of too much debt!