1. You cannot make a full payment on even one credit card bill.
2. You are already maxed out on more than one credit card.
3. You are just making the minimum payments on your credit card bills.
4. You do not have any cash available, so you put your day-to-day expenses (like groceries and gasoline) on your credit card, without having any clue as to whether or not you will have the money once the invoice comes, to pay the bill.
5. You are typically late in paying your bills.
6. Your method for paying credit card bills on a monthly basis involves using one debt (credit card, cash advance, home equity line of credit, etc) to pay another.
7. You lie (to yourself, perhaps your spouse, and typically your friends) about how much debt you currently have.
8. You reluctantly reach for the mailbox, and typically do not open your invoices because you simply do not want to know how much you owe right now.
9. You eagerly jump on any new credit card solicitation that you receive, with an appealing low introductory interest rate.
10. You hesitate before picking up the phone, because collection agencies keep calling.
If the items listed above sound painfully familiar to you, then you should feel accomplished. You’ve just taken the first (dramatic) step to help get yourself back on your feet. You’ve just acknowledged that you have a debt problem.
Now that you’ve acknowledged that you have a debt problem, there are many expense cutting and debt repayment strategies you can pursue in order to fix the problem before it gets worse.
You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about! Marketing departments for credit card companies, mortgage companies, auto manufacturers and other banks have spent a tremendous amount of time, money and effort to lure you into the situation you are currently facing.
Your responses were not only predicted, but anticipated and measured by those same companies sending you invoices today. That’s ok, because now you have recognized that your past responses to these “generous” solicitations and offers are on par with a local ice cream truck parked outside of the diabetic children’s house, playing the friendly jingle.
Take action. Take control and start making the appropriate steps to fix your current situation. This blog contains many resources to help get you started. …The most important thing is to actually GET STARTED!
