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The Hitchhiker's Guide To Insanity
A new sickness is plaguing the UK called Denial. Denial has
resulted in a national personal debt of almost £1.1 trillion
(source Credit Action). Symptoms include:
* Refusal to open bank statements
* Lots of scratching of head, saying "how did it get to
this?"
* Paying by plastic most, or all of the time
* Sweating at the checkout
Denial is now the most common illness in the UK and it is
spreading. Scientists are not sure how the illness reached such
epidemic proportions, but they are concerned about how the
disease is mutating.
Take, for example, the hideous case of Karyn Bosnak, a
self-confessed shopaholic. The American blonde ran up a massive
$20,000 of debt. Unable to contemplate the thought of actually
working to pay it off, Karen set up a website pleading with
gullible surfers all over the world to send donations. And they
did. And Karen has now written lots of books about this venture
and no longer needs to borrow such huge amounts of cash. Karen,
according to the website, lives happily ever after, but still
suffers from serious bouts of Denial.
But most people don't live happily ever after.
The most worrying side-effect of Denial is that most people
are aware that they could do something about their debt and
research appropriate credit options. However, most humans don't
do this, most stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes
and lie back and think of England. They could, if they desired,
look on the internet for a financial information site. There are
lots of them around. Available for consumer perusal is the
compact and impartial comparison site www.moneynet.co.uk or the larger
option http://www.moneysupermarket.com ? and those are only two
of the more popular choices. And if you're an American, you have
www.lowermybills.com at your disposal.
What is most wonderful about Denial, in terms of consumer
debt, is the bad name that banks are getting for seducing
innocent consumers into complex credit contracts. If fat
McDonalds' customers have to take responsibility for their
actions, then poor borrowers should acknowledge the full
consequences of excessive shopping.
Resources:
http://cashzilla.blogspot.com/
http://www.creditaction.org.uk/
http://www.savekaryn.com
http://www.moneynet.co.uk
http://www.moneysupermarket.com
http://www.lowermybills.com
http://www.power-of-attorneys.com/july_se1.htm/
Further information:
'What £1.1 trillion of debt actually means', by
Cashzilla
Consumers have already been given comparisons of debt and third
world countries' GDP. At Cashzilla, we don't think the message is
setting in. We asked Jamie, a local expert, to do a small
scientific experiment, which involved going to the shop and
buying a tube of smarties. The tube of smarties cost 40p and
there were 42 smarties in the tube (a very significant number).
Some magical calculations later, Jamie worked out that £1.1
trillion would amount to coating the world in smarties five
million times over!
Rachel is one of two authors who write for Cashzilla. We don't
take ourselves too seriously and rant about various personal
finance issues from time to time. Rachel drinks Guinness.
Cashzilla is an Aries. He has a flamboyant character and a
tongue that could heat up any conversation. If Cashzilla was an
A-Team character, he'd be Murdock.
http://cashzilla.blogspot.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
MORE COLLEGE CREDITChicago Sun-Times, United States - 10 hours agoDespite the current nationwide credit crunch, the State of Illinois secured $100 million for the student loans by tapping a new source -- credit unions. ... |
Boston Globe |
US travelers face credit snafuBoston Globe, United States - 7 minutes agoBy Eric Lucas All I wanted to do was buy gas, so I put my credit card in the automatic card-reader and got ready to fill the tank. ... |
Credit - Google News
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