Do Not Let Your Debt Own You!

Life is too short to let your debt own you.  Please allow me to explain what I mean.  As Americans, generally speaking, we have a tendency to focus on “things.”  The more things we have the more successful we are.  The more things we have the more desired we will become.  The more things we have the happier we will be.Now by a show of hands how many of you reading this believe this lie?  Don’t be shy as the first step to freedom from debt is being truthful to yourself.  The media leads you to believe that unless you own the latest and greatest car, house, clothes, Vodka, etc… you are the biggest loser on the face of the planet.  Because these messages are often subtle they worm their way into your brain and your psyche.  Before you know it you are drowing in debt with no relief in sight.

When you get to this point you have NO quality of life.  You have now fallen slave to debt and your whole life revolves around existing for the house payment, existing for the car payment and exisiting for the credit card payment.  You can continue to lie to yourself and say that you are working hard eveyday to place your family in a nice house, clothes, car and provide for them with a new tv and computer but the bottom line is that you are a slave to the debt and the companies that own that debt.

Let me give you a real life example that maybe you can relate to.  A client of mine was and continues to be a very proud man who just wanted to give his family a good life.  He bought a nice house and owed over $200,000 for this house.  Which in the midwest is a a good chunk of change.  He owed over $17,000 in credit card debt and over $40,000 in vehicle debt.  His total debt load was over $279.000 at the time he came to me for help.  The family income was $61,000 a year, again not a bad wage for Kansas City, Missouri.     However, the famalies’ debt to income ratio was well over 36%.  They truly had become slaves to their debt with no quality of life.

I filed a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and I was as frank with them as I am with all my clients.  My advice was, if you are not willing to make changes than the bankruptcy is a waste of your time and mine.  I do not want my clients to become a renewable resource of getting into debt and filing bankruptcy.  I want the bankruptcy to truly give you a fresh start.

They gave this a tremendous amount of thought and decided to give up their house.  I use the term house for a reason.  A house is JUST a structure nothing more and many times a lot less.  A home is wherever you are with your family. Often times we get the two meanings confused or we try to fuze the meanings together.

My clients’ home became a house and as a result they decided to surrender the house in order to regain financial control.  You may be thinking, “Oh my God I cannot give up my home.  What were they thinking?”

Last fall the husband stopped by just to say thank you.  He hugged me and said he just wanted to say thanks for giving his life back.  I explained that I did not do this but rather he and his wife did the work together to gain their freedom, I was merely the conduit for the process to take place.

As he was tearing up he explained that one of the greatest joys in his life was to coach and watch his kids play football.  For the first time he was able to fully participate in his kids sports.  He did not have to rush to or from the practices because of trying work extra to pay for his debt.  More importantly and one of the coolest realizations that I have heard is, that he was not constantly worrying about his debt when he was with his kids and wife now.  He could truly concentrate on his family and enjoy his life for the first time in many, many years.

I think about this family often when I counsel my clients about debt and the incredible power debt has to enslave one and steal the essence of their life.  Life is just way too short and precious to be a slave to debt.  Take steps to regain financial control today whether it is filing bankruptcy, negotiating your debt for a settlement or working through a consolidation. 

Finally, remember that knowledge is power.  The more knowledge you gain about credit and debt the greater your power will be in gaining financial control!

Written by Kansas City, Missouri, Bankruptcy Attorney, Rachel Lynn Foley.