Debt can be a silent killer in our lives. It could affect our families, self control and marriages. In fact, some deaths can be associated with previous financial struggles. It can be seen as a sneaky affliction and it will creep into our lives. Debt slowly takes control all parts of our existences. This may sound like a dramatic description, but people who have been affected by serious debt problems would confirm this. The sad thing about this is that the bad effects of debt are generally true. Although we don’t want to admit it, debt will eventually control our lives entirely. Even if we realize this, we may not be able to anything about this.
Many people actually don’t deny that they have debt problems, but they don’t have the willingness to make the effort. Debt eradication is a serious effort and dealing with our debt often requires big changes in our lives. Our worst enemy when dealing with debt is often self justification. Our mind is really good at justifying just about any our financial decision, purchase and actions. Given the right reasons, many people would actually believe our arguments; although there are actually other alternative methods that we can adopt. However, the first thing that we need to do is to recognize our problems.
Diagnosing debt problem is actually quite difficult and probably harder that we might expect. However, the symptoms should be really clear for us, especially because we experience them completely. However, some people may need to experience all the symptoms before they finally acknowledge that they have debt problems. Accepting that we have debt problem should be a humbling experience, instead of a humiliating one. In fact, we face real humiliation when the debt problem has reached a condition when we are no longer be able to put food on the table, because much of our income is diverted to debt payments, as well as their interest, fees and charges.
It means, we should prevent debt from reaching a destructive level. This can be done if we are able to identify all the warning signs early on. It is important for us to identify all financial problems early enough and look for ways to fix them. Without following the proper scenario, we could eventually head into the actual financial trouble. Often, we request credit increases; because we have reached the credit limits. When we want to perform major purchases, there’s often no other alternative than asking for credit increases. We often do this when our credit cards are maxed out. It’s a sure sign that our spending is already out of control.
Determining whether we have debt problem should be quite easy. We could admit to ourselves when we have lived way beyond our income. We should stop looking for ways to get extra credit from new or existing creditors. Once we have started to reschedule our monthly bill payments, especially because we lack of funds; it means that we have financial problems. Eventually, we simply don’t have the money to pay our bills on time.