I live several yards away from a very busy and popular shopping centre and almost every day I walk up there to see people piling out of shops armed beyond their capability with so many bags it's astounding.
Where do these people get ‘their money’ from?
I can’t believe every shopper out there is spending money they have saved and saved over the last few months in order to treat themselves to a new coat and boots for the winter.
That would be the old days surely? The days when money actually meant something you had. Something you’d worked for and the rewards were so much more satisfying.
The days when financial institutions didn’t just send you a credit card with an available credit limit of £4000 for your spending pleasure.
That’s what happened to me in 2004. Without even applying for it, a shiny new ‘Platinum‘ credit card with 0% interest for a whole year made its way into my house and into my wallet and before I knew it the thing was maxed out and my head was spinning.
Thankfully, I had notched up a healthy £4k debt in record time and was now considered prime fodder for any financial institution to prey on. Credit card offers were thrown at me often weighing down the shoulders of my local postman. These cards would come through my door offering me all manner of tantalising options to make my life a simpler, more efficient - happier place.
I soon had three more cards with even more available credit on board and I was cleverly going to transfer the existing debt thus extending my ‘free’ interest period for a further year. Genius. Even the 5% transfer fee seemed a good deal so on I went. I thought I had pulled a fast one on these people but within 3 years I was the proud owner of six credit cards with a grand total of £12,000 outstanding between them.
Then the clever bit starts… when you call up asking for an extension of the promotional rate of 0%, alas they can’t offer that rate any longer as you inadvertently missed a payment on one of the many cards a year or so ago so the best they can do offer is 35% APR.
So here I am with over £12,000 worth of debt and not a great deal to show for it either and it’s all someone else’s fault… isn’t it?
People of the United Kingdom, we are being fobbed off on a daily basis with the story that the country is in its current state of financial turmoil because of poor old Gordon Brown. Is it really his fault?
I am not the only person out there who can share this sorry tale of personal financial woe and I’m sure there are worse tales that make my story pale into insignificance. But isn’t it time we started to make ourselves accountable for our own financial problems?
Perhaps that particular credit card company shouldn’t have ‘given’ me a card without actually applying for it but was it them who signed their name when I fancied a new pair of trainers? Or them who fancied a diving trip to Egypt when I knew my bank account was already in its overdraft?
No. I’m not blaming the credit card companies. This is all my fault and I guess that’s what makes it hard to swallow. If I could point the finger at someone and say “Oi, you! This is all your fault – sort it!” then I would but even Nicky Campbell can’t get me out of this one.
I feel it’s time for the people of the United Kingdom and beyond to hold themselves responsible and accountable for their own finances and stop trying to point the finger at someone else.
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