Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You would think that the credit card companies would be cautious about debt limits for the elderly. Actually that is illegal discrimination based on age.
I noticed you offered the suggestion of getting out of debt. I am not sure how people who are barely getting by do that, but I sure would like to hear your suggestions.
Well, I am certainly not an expert on debt management. I can offer some thoughts, and relate my own experience.
There is no easy formula for getting out of debt. Bottom line, you have to just STOP borrowing money.
It's not easy, because you are already feeding the hog. He takes a big chunk out of your spending money every month, and you always find more stuff that you need to spend money on, so you pull out that damned credit card, again, because you need to buy something and you don't have the cash. It's so easy. Too easy.
But, for every dollar you borrow, you are going to spend 1.10, or 1.20 to pay it back, and that comes out of your future income. That is like just cashing your paycheck, taking 10 to 20 percent of it a flushing it down the toilet. Don't argue numbers with me, here, just absorb the concept.
So, you have to take that first step. one way or another, you just have to stop borrowing money.
Then you have work on whittling down the debt. You need to pay more that the minimum payment on any of the bills you have. look at you bill. Take a single credit account and look at the bill.
We had bills where the minimum payment did not even pay the interest that had accrued that month, so the amount we owed kept going up. Or 80% of the payment was paying the interest, and only 20% went toward the principal.
if there is interest accrued for the month, add that amount to the monthly payment they require. That way, you are chipping away at the principal each month, with your payment.
Take the time to consult with a credit counselor. (Like the CCCS at Credit.org) they can help you analyze your situation, and come up with a plan that you can live with. Be careful about any plans that require you giving them your money, though. There are some dodgy schemes out there.
We couldn't do it on our own. We waited too long and had people threatening to take us to court, and we couldn't sort it all out and keep them all happy. We ended up filing Chapter 13. It was painful. It was embarrassing. But it stopped all the crap calls and demands, and gave us some breathing room. They set up a plan that allowed us a decent living, and we paid a monthly amount to the administrators who divvied the money out to our creditors. When the final payment was made, we were all but debt free! We now had that money to put away for savings, since we had learned do make do without it for nearly five years.
So we're supposed to let them skate? Are we supposed to support them then? Something like the student debt issue? Just wipe it clean? Have no responsibility for bad choices? Make them as often as we (Or they) choose) because they'll get bailed out?
I guess you did not bother to read all of my previous posts. I understand...very boring. To summarize, I believe the huge amount of money we pay in taxes is being wasted by being the world's policeman and trying to "bail" out the rest of the world. I think a lot of our foreign aid is wasted, causes resentment, and we cannot afford the costs. Let us use more of our tax money to build jobs, build infrastructure, provide a better safety net for our citizens and make it easier for families to cope with college and healthcare costs. We should never hear anything about social security becoming bankrupt. Instead we should be building a system that can provide better benefits for all of us.
So we're supposed to let them skate? Are we supposed to support them then? Something like the student debt issue? Just wipe it clean? Have no responsibility for bad choices? Make them as often as we (Or they) choose) because they'll get bailed out?
Nope, everyone, old and young, should owe his soul to the company store. Forever. Or so it seems...
Sixteen tons..and what do I get?
Another day older..and deeper in debt.
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store.
It depends upon your retirement income stream. If retiring means your income drops by 40 or 50%, yeah, debt is a problem. However, if your income is going to be about as much as when you were working, you don't have to worry much about debt if you can already handle what you have.
Well true enough. If your retirement plan allows you to keep the same sort of revenue stream you have had while working, and you are getting along fine with your debt load, then you are very fortunate, and you're not going to be in the situation this thread is discussing, I reckon.
I am not advocating this at all (I have no debt) but if a person dies having $50,000 in debt, doesn't the debt just evaporate, if the person is single without children?
Wouldn't it seem that older people nearing the end of their lives can just ignore big debts and make small payments on it until passing away? Unless larger payments are demanded....
Similar to how people declare bankruptcy and all their debts are erased. (again, not advocating this at all, just bringing up points of discussion)
When a person dies, the debts are not automatically "erased", but are paid off from the assets of the estate. If the estate has no assets or very few assets, well in that case yes, the debts are effectively "erased" and the creditors are left holding the bag.
To consciously plan for such a scenario is desipicable in my opinion because it is in effect stealing from the creditors; the people who pay for that theft are the other people who have credit cards and the merchants who pay the 3% (or close to that amount) for every credit card purchase. The losses from dead beats are figured into the cost of doing business and everybody else pays that cost, in a similar manner as we all pay for successful shop-lifters.
It's way easier to blame politicians than to accept that the United States has an abysmal individual savings rate and that's individual people making individual spending vs saving decisions. The bottom third of the population can't save. We all get that. The problem is that a huge slice of the middle class spends every dime they earn. Globally, the median household income is about $10,000 dollars. The lowest of the low welfare recipient does better than that in the United States. Where I'm going with this is that half the world survives just fine on $10,000 per year. Someone in the United States who is "barely making it" has a huge pile of discretionary income. They choose to spend it rather than save it. They hit age 65 with no savings and it's somehow blamed on some politician.
So, you have to take that first step. one way or another, you just have to stop borrowing money.
......
Sadly it is healthcare costs and/or poor health that does in many families and results in debt they cannot handle. Of course, plenty of other families fell into the well during the 2009 recession.
I guess you did not bother to read all of my previous posts. I understand...very boring. To summarize, I believe the huge amount of money we pay in taxes is being wasted by being the world's policeman and trying to "bail" out the rest of the world. I think a lot of our foreign aid is wasted, causes resentment, and we cannot afford the costs. Let us use more of our tax money to build jobs, build infrastructure, provide a better safety net for our citizens and make it easier for families to cope with college and healthcare costs. We should never hear anything about social security becoming bankrupt. Instead we should be building a system that can provide better benefits for all of us.
Well, I guess you didn't read the others posts. Plus you ignored everything I said also...So be it. You'd just love an excuse to wander into the street without looking and whine when you get hit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
