My Plan to live Debt-Free - Step 2 - Know thy enemy

In my last blog posting, I discovered that I would use my credit card versus cash to pay for essential items, thus creating severe credit card debt.  Not only that, but I took out a personal loan (which has a ludricrous interest rate).  So in order to formulate my plan, I had to answer a key question. 

Who is the enemy - the loan/credit card company or me? 

Some of you may say the credit card company.  Sure, they send us these applications.  They will call you to accept a "special" offer since you are a "preferred" customer, another term for someone who pays their bill on time with only the minimum payment.  This is their hook.  And many of us fall for it.  Maybe it's the loan companies, tempting us with easy and "guaranteed" loans.  We are so desperate that we do this, and they know this.  They count on it, and they get their money with the high interest they give you.

When I sat done and began to think about it, what is the common denominator in the statements above - the human factor.  The companies are not the enemy.   I was the enemy!!  It was I who accepted the credit card offers.  It was I who seeked out the loan.  It And the most importantly, it was I who used the cards.

So there you have it.  I knew who the enemy was.  But just knowing the identity of the enemy is not enough.  One has to understand it.  Once you do, then you can formulate your plan

Coming soon - the beginning of the end...