Where Did Your Debt Problems Come From? – Ray J. Bulaon

I was counseling someone the other day in my office. He looked shocked and confused as we sorted through all the credit card statements on my desk and added up how much he owed. $65,000! That’s how much the statements said he owed!
How can this be? He said he remembered paying a lot of these debts off just a few years ago. When I asked him how it was possible for him to owe that much again, he replied: “Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t realize I owed that much again until I took the time to look at all my bills. All I know is that I’m always broke the day after payday.”
For many people, their debt problems usually come from a series of events or bad financial decisions. It could be that a lot of people simply don’t keep track of what they charge on their credit cards. So, they use their credit cards for everyday purchases without realizing how much debt they are accumulating. Some use their credit cards but only for “emergencies”.
The problem is that anything could pretty much qualify as an “emergency”. The “emergency” could be new furniture that they don’t even need, a new car or an unplanned family vacation. Months or years go by and before they realize it, their debts have skyrocketed beyond their ability to repay. And unless their income has increased while accumulating debt, it becomes a struggle to make the debt payments every month. The financial hole they’re in just keeps getting deeper.
If you don’t have the extra cash laying around every month to make those increasing debt payments, it will only be a matter of time before you start defaulting. And from there it just gets worse and worse until one day you have a big financial emergency in your hands.
Some people even resort to borrowing from some credit cards just to pay other credit cards but quickly realize that this strategy doesn’t work and that they are only digging themselves a deeper financial hole with no way out.
The truth is that your debt problems didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Experience is often our best teacher. It would help you to understand what past decisions led you to your present financial circumstances so that you can avoid making the same mistakes again. This can be a good first step to solving your debt problems.
Regardless of what led to your present circumstances, however, nothing will change until YOU decide to change. No one can make that decision for you. The moment you decide to change can be a big turning point in your life. At any given moment, you are only one decision away from turning your life around.
The late author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, said: “You may not be able to change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” It’s never too late to make a change and today is a good day to start.
(Ray J. Bulaon is a debt and tax resolution attorney in Valencia who has helped more than 6,000 clients. For a free confidential consultation, call his Valencia office at 866-477-7772)