Letters to the Editor
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This story was me two and a half years ago
Ok, some of my debt was from a medical crises, and all but, maybe $150 of the credit card debt was initiated during a period of unemployment when I was between careers.
But the terror it created while I worked my way back up in a new career at a hideously small salary put my head in the sand while my interest rates and late-payment fees skyrocketed, my credit score plummetted and life grew ugly.
When my car broke down three years ago and I learned I could not buy a new one...even with $1500 to put down, because my credit score was SO awful, and my delinquency sheet a mile long I got my ass in gear.
Today ALL my debt is paid off, my credit score is 200 pts higher and climbing, I just bought a lovely slightly-used car a couple of weeks ago...the nicest car I've ever owned, even though it's the "value" package with no bells and whistles. It is well within what I can afford.
I didn't have daddy to help me...so I took a nights-and-weekends job at the mall and picked up any and all freelance work I could find. When I landed in the hospital mid-payoff I applied for, and recieved a charity deduction on my co-insurance, and set up payments with the hospital for the balance due...and took yet another job to manage that and still be out of debt by January 2008.
And I pushed myself to find a new job with a huge pay increase. Anticlimactically enough I landed just such a job the month before my last check to the IRS for back taxes was cashed. So now my huge new paycheck is ALL MINE! Well...mine and my investement account's since I'm used to shelling out several hundred each month in bills now I just take that same amount and invest it.
So I'm used to getting by on my debt diet. It's a healthy diet. No point in eating pie every day, even if you're skinny...so there's no point in spending money wily nily even if I make enough.
It's possible! Even when you think you're beyond broke if I could do it with my thousands in credit cards, health problems, parking tickets, and back taxes while working three jobs ANYONE can.
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A big, fat so what?
I've known others in Hepola's position, but I can't really get too sympathetic. Up until 20 years ago, it was very difficult to get a visa card unless you had taken out loans, even if you had good retail credit from oil companies, department stores, etc. Now anyone gets the darn things. And, yes, people managed just fine before credit cards. You'd have to plan your purchases and do without a few luxuries, but the basic standard of living probably wasn't that much different from what Ms. Hepola enjoys.
I've had a couple opportunities for jobs in NYC in myearly 30s In both cases, I took a good hard look at what it would cost to live there before saying "yes, I'll take it if you make me an offer". In both cases, i was arunner-up, but at least I knew what I was doing when I was in Ms. Hepola's age group. That it didn't occur to her to have roommates sooner--not unusual in high cost cities----or make the most elementary of cuts long ago doesn't say much on her behalf.
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Salon knows their demographic
@St. John:
"No one mentions the population of homeless and people living in permanent shelters."
Salon is a lifestyle webzine now, much more than it is a political one, much to the disappointment and chagrin of many.
In that context, the article is useful to teach middle-class people who are way behind in their bills that they're not alone, that there are solutions available to them, and that those solutions, while unpleasant, aren't the end of the world. Basically, to tell folks that they can tighten their belts, and their world will improve as a result. Good enough, as far as it goes.
The article means nothing at all in the broader social landscape of people who are in real trouble. If Salon were not a lifestyle webzine, a few articles from real people holding sub-prime paper might be considered worthwhile, or from real people whose jobs have been outsourced, or from real people who are facing financial ruin due to medical expenses.
But Salon is a lifestyle webzine, with a smattering of politics thrown in. What their readers apparently want is tales of middle-class pilgrims like themselves.
There's nothing wrong with any of that, except that people are expecting more serious, socially-aware commentary from Salon, and they should probably stop expecting that.
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Great article
I am sure there are plenty of letters here writing about how holier than thou they are, don't listen to those dolts. Borrowing money is the American way. Shoot our national debt went from 2 trillion to 10 trillion in the last 7 years, and there's a ton of people that still think the republicans are the party of small government and fiscal responsibility. Including probably a lot of the people on this thread.
Also 10 grand is nothing. If I owe the bank ten grand it's my problem, if I owe them a million it's their problem...
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once, there was no such thing as credit cards...
I expect someone else has made this point, but credit cards like Visa (i.e., cards that were not store-specific) first appeared, in my memory, around 1965 or 1966 (sixth grade). I remember a friend saying that when another one arrived in the mail, her father would be so incensed that he'd try to tear the card up ~ but of course, it being plastic, he couldn't tear it up, then he'd be even more p.o.'d.
Laurel's letter may contain good advice, but the "you're a spoiled brat" rant is unkind and hardly likely to motivate. MOREOVER, yes, people used to do fine with a lot less. And, yes, different eras have different collective sensibilities. But I don't think people back when were less acquisitive by nature. It's just that without a credit card like Visa that worked at more and more different stores, acquiring was a lot harder.
The author sure got bitch-slapped for her candor. Yes, the advice to do without and save for retirement is apt. But have a heart!