Irregular Payments

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While I am certainly no fan of the tactics of many in the credit card industry, sometimes I’m not so sure we don’t get precisely what we deserve. For instance, in public comments to regulators on their credit card gripes, we see one commenter lamenting, apparently, the reality of time passing:

I agree that 30 days late is late — one day is not late!

Has our education system gotten so poor that we cannot even grasp simple words like late anymore?

late: Coming, occurring, or remaining after the correct, usual, or expected time; delayed

photo credit: Renegade98

With our own government muddling our minds by telling us that a loan is a credit via the recently passed Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, is it any wonder that Americans seem a bit economically challenged? Oh, sure, at least it’s an interest free loan, but as long as you have to pay it back, it sure is not a credit to this taxpayer.

And yes, I know you could play a little arbitrage and come out with a little extra coin in the end. But you and I both know that the majority of people taking advantage of this are not going to be doing that. They are going to be blowing it on some other thing they cannot really afford but for this $7,500 advance from the government. And then in a couple years they will discover they owe that money back, and be further in the hole than before. Could you please explain the logic in helping those with debt problems by giving them extra debt? All while sacking everyone — including future generations — with a little more debt via a nice little boost to the deficit? (Oh, that’s right, this isn’t a helping hand for citizens — it is for the banks.)

On a personal note, I am so looking forward to answering the inevitable client questions from those who take advantage of this as to why they need to pay an additional $500 in taxes, every year, for the next 15 years…

I propose a new law:

Congress shall enact no new spending legislation during an election year.

photo credit: ToniVC

Summer has finally made itself fully known, and walking outside is like walking into a sauna. Which is fine if I wanted a sauna, but not so fine if I just wanted to go for a walk. So, what better time to break out ye’ olde spreadsheet and see what kind of progress was made in killing off debt last month?

Summer always seem to be a little more expensive for us than other times of the year. After all, when it’s snowing and 7 degrees, we are perfectly content not wandering much and just staying warm inside here at home.

But it being a beautiful summer, we felt like wandering a bit. We made our annual pilgrimage to my extended family reunion, and decided to take a couple extra days to see my wife’s brother nearby while we were in the area. We did do a budget for the vacation, but it being one of those things we didn’t regularly budget for in the past (otherwise known as everything), we didn’t end up budgeting enough. A couple extra meals out, a few too many trips to the coffee shop, some random spending, and the bottom line showed us a couple hundred overspent.

I was a little disappointed, but wasn’t extraordinarily bothered by it. My wife? Borderline stroke. I had no idea how deeply the get-out-of-debt bug I brought home had bitten her! A few serious conversations about our goals and progress and such, and she relaxed a bit while also imbuing in me a little extra motivation to kick a few things into higher gear…