Credit Traps...We ALL Got Caught!

What is the credit trap?

The "Credit Trap" is when you can't be off work when you're sick because you're in a stressful place of bills, bills, and more bills. It's a situation where you almost NEVER break free because you ALWAYS want what you cannot afford, and therefore, you live outside your means, borrowing money from "Peter to pay Paul".

You want to dress yourself and your kids in "name-brand" sh-t and eat take-out like the rich folks do on the other side of town. Everybody in the house got a cell phone, but one person paying the bill. There's nothing wrong with these things...IF and WHEN you can afford to have them, WITHOUT the stress of being boxed in.

People get caught inside the tangled web of the credit trap when they're ungrateful for the "simple pleasures" of life, like oxygen, water, being able to breath, and think clearly. If you're not thankful for what you have, it's impossible to have more...WITHOUT the stress of being boxed in.  ----

 The image  above shows details otherwise known as "fine print", which is information most (if not all) consumers NEVER read until they feel the company "overcharged" them for something. Every crooked deal you can think of is usually hidden in the fine print, which is the second largest credit trap method used by shady companies.

Also, AT&T, Direct TV, and countless others try sneaking "extra" charges (90 cents here, 70 cents there) onto customer accounts. These mega companies rack up billions by adding a few cents to each consumer's account. Do the math. Let's say Direct TV adds an additional "new fee" to its two million customers. For example:

.90 x 2,000,000 = $1,800,000

Adding 90 cents to two million customers levels out to over a million "extra" dollars a month.This is just one example to demonstrate that you are probably being ripped off by a few cents each month if you're not PAYING ATTENTION.

AnyWho...

Going back to credit-card companies, it's no secret that they will scam you, given the opportunity. Like all the Bernie Madoff's, who take money from unsuspecting people, it's a dishonest, but growing practice.

Also, it's completely legal for shrewd credit giants to trap students entering college at the high school level. How many credit card offers did you get on your way to college? Keep in mind the fact that you had nobody's job, that's one. Two... you had no intention of paying the bill. That responsibility fell to mama or daddy or both. Otherwise, it just sat on your credit report, along with your student loans and other stuff you got "on credit". Am I close?

Look at American Express. The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) ordered the card giant to refund $85 million to customers for "illegal" card practices. No surprise there.

And look at these others:

• FTC (Federal Trade Commission) AT&T made to refund $80 million in "Mobile Cramming". In other words, they billed their customers for text messages for horoscopes, love tips, etc. that their customers never subscribed to.
• Sprint was ordered to pay $18.25 million to California customers who paid so-called legal "early termination" fees
• FDIC and CFPB (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) Discover ordered to repay customers $200 million

The list is too long to put here in this one blog post, but you get the point.

Next on the agenda is the claim that mega companies set out to "trap" you as early as grade school. Wow. That a strong accusation. Anything to back it up?

Okay. So...let's see. How about logic?

Though it's a good thing (on the surface), how about the so-called school "grant" system?

Access to "free" (FAFSA) money is nothing more than bait. This carrot dangles in front of the student, who probably knows nothing about budgeting. By the way, the $5,730 grant money is "just enough" for colleges to set costs that "eat" it up in "fees", knowing you need spending money for your own sanity. Come on, already. 

Now that you're hooked, they "trap" you by giving you access to almost $10,000 in first-time student loans. It's handed to naive children who WILL NOT turn it down...though don't need it. See the progression?

In reality, would it be fair to say that you become a target in elementary school? And that you only have two options as a young adult? Go to jail or go in debt.

What's the recommendation? 

Well...first off...squash this foolish belief that money is evil. Who is bold enough to say "I LOVE MONEY?" Nobody. Because you have some religious hang-up about it. If that works you, go for it. 

However, Money is good. Say it out loud "MONEY - IS - GOOD". Wasn't that liberating? ...Not only is money good, it's even better when you have plenty of it! So let's stop with the pious bullsh--t! Cause it's keeping you broke.

Money is the reason we can live in houses and not at the Salvation Army; we can ride in new cars, wear decent clothes, carry cell phones, write on blogs, have refrigerators, bribe politicians, and pretty much everything else money pays for.

The good, the bad, the ugly...it's all possible with the "dollar bill, y'all." How you get it and use it determines is your call. Encerrar?

You're the only one who can de-stress your financial situation. But it might be a good start to stop living a million-dollar lifestyle on a hundred-dollar budget. IJS

Amen, lights!

How do you see it? Hit me up...

I'm only a keystroke away.

Peace

Copyright 2015 by Peggy Hatchet James