If you are having financial trouble, and think you need credit help to deal with creditors, repair your credit score and raise your credit score to be able to get more credit, maybe it’s time to think about things differently. For example, many people trying to improve their credit are desperately trying to get more credit. But clearly, there is a problem, because you can’t be in credit trouble if you know how to handle credit. The way out of this hole is not to get more credit but to re-think your relationship with credit generally. Maybe instead of getting more credit, or repairing credit just to get more, you need to think about just using less credit, or even no credit at all.
It may seem impossible to live without credit. With the price of cars and houses alone, how would it ever be possible to pay cash for such large amounts? Well there are ways to get both of those things and live within your means. This doesn’t necessarily mean paying cash, but it also may mean buying what you can afford, or renting a house instead of buying.
Today for example, it’s very unlikely that in the majority of areas of the country, home values are not going to go up much beyond the rate of inflation for the next few years. Considering that most people stay in a home for three to five years before selling, why buy a home now unless you want to stay there much longer? The costs and fees and interest in getting a home mortgage will wind up leaving you without much appreciation in value by the time you sell. Renting a home might make more sense that buying in this kind of market.
As for cars, we really think of cars as extensions of our personalities. But some people are coming to their sense and realizing that this is just a tool to get to work and the store and school. When you consider it’s just meant to be useful, and that other things in your life have more importance, you may not be so concerned about pending a year’s salary on a vehicle. Buying something that does the job means you can put the extra $30,000 you saved into retirement account or college fund. Which means more – retiring in style or driving in style right now? That’s a choice you will have to make.
Trying to live without credit is hard at first. but once you realize you need to budget, and keep cash aside for emergencies, you begin to build up a little cushion. You start to think twice about the things you thought you needed, and see how frequently you indulge in impulse purchases. Sometimes it’s hard to believe you would have just snapped up that aisle-ender item without thinking. This is where the money goes when we wonder, “where did all the money go?”
When you give up using credit, there is some adjustment period, but when you hear everyone complain about their holiday bills, the high interest rates, and what amounts to near slavery to the credit card companies, you will feel a satisfaction and relief that is worth more than credit can buy.
