True Debt Relief Must Start With Increased Financial Education

Although the responsibility for amassing out of control debts will inevitably lie with the borrower, its hard to argue with the significant culpability of the credit card companies as the banking community has done everything in their substantial powers to normalize lingering consumer debts in amounts that wouldve been deemed monstrous a generation ago.  Its a slippery slope that rarely ends well, as a single misstep can set in motion a chain of events (a thirty day late payment allowing the creditor license under previously established contractual agreement to raise interest rates, bumping up required minimums and further hindering the borrowers ability to arrange compensation) that will make successful credit card debt relief appear next to impossible.

By inculcating the broad acceptance of indebtedness, even suggesting that teenagers start out deficit spending to better their credit reports and FICO scores, lenders have turned an emergency scenario into an everyday affair, and, now that the economy has slipped and the average American faces financial havoc, the banking conglomerates are slowly recognizing the potential dangers of a society so critically over leveraged.  Indeed, now that so many consumers have felt that they had no other alternative but to avoid bankruptcy and just hide from their creditors altogether (relinquishing any hope of debt settlement or modification of terms to heighten odds of eventual remuneration), the banks have reversed the trend of the past century, actively tightening the restrictions on borrowing eligibility.

To the grudging approval of consumer advocacy groups and debt relief specialists, the lenders have themselves begun arguing for increased fiscal knowledge and self education on the part of United States citizens.  Although the credit card companies may have been forced by recent federal legislation into providing more details and expanding transparency on billing statements, theyve also been essentially shamed into acknowledging the importance of consumer misunderstanding as applied to compound interest.  Our school system all but intentionally overlooks the subject, and, tragically, the only time the government goes out of its way to force Americans to learn something about the ramifications of lending occurs during the process of bankruptcy declaration.

Guidelines now stipulate that folks filing for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 protection take credit counseling classes before the trustee authorizes the discharge of past debts, which, as they say, is rather like closing the barn door after the horses have left the stable.  With the number of bankruptcies expected to soon top two million, roughly twice as many as only a decade ago, our nation clearly is in the midst of a debt relief crisis, and a thorough focus on education throughout our culture will be the only hope of staving off economic collapse.

If you or a loved one are already in the throes of credit card debt totals beyond your control, take the initiative to better your own situation and grab the reins.  The lenders, for their part, newly appreciate their own obligation to help their clientele weather prolonged periods of unemployment or health concerns, and they have demonstrated a relatively remarkable tolerance for problem accounts, especially compared to the reluctance shown to agree to settlement negotiation over the previous years.      Depending upon your own specific financial issues, you may find it more advantageous to utilize the services of a debt settlement professional to act as middleman, but, as with debt relief all, time is of the essence.