You know that time, just before you nod off....

[phoenix11]

...,,, just as you settle down in bed, very tired, thinking you won't sleep.

 

Well, I was indulging in a bit of slow breathing to calm the nerves and to meditate into a more positive frame of mind when I had a big thought.

 

I'm not sure I'll remember it all because just as I felt really good and thought "I need to post this on the forum", well ................ that was me last thought.

 

Essentially, these DCAs and bailiffs etc are a burgeoning industry as a result of this huge, long term, mismanagement of lending.

 

I'm not passing judgement on anyone except the financial institutions and the so-called, self-proscribed 'professionals'.

 

How we've 'grown up' with the concept of borrowing and credit, have been encouraged to live the lifestyle for so long, has now become firmly fixed. So from what I see, whilst we've all been complicit in this way of living, it has been because this is what we've been given - we've been 'sold' whether in actual selling or by advertising, encouraging, emotional manipulation etc.

 

So here we almost all are in deep doodoos.

 

Some may say what we're doing is unethical because the debt is ours - but how many of us would truly rather an honest and fair way was given to us to allow us to be ethical about our debts - how many of us have been given even a half way decent option for an honorouble solution all round?

 

I think the answer is probably almost none.

 

So, the old 'money' is perpetuating the system that has brought us all down, and then worsening it by coming up with another, aggressive form of debt control and management.

 

The banks & cc companies 'sell on' the result of their usury so that they can then 'write it off' against tax - thereby effectively defrauding the tax man - resulting in less taxes gathered in, less funds to help those in dire need, less funds to maintain the infrastructure of society.

 

And the DCAs then employ bullying tactics to obtain something on the debt, and probably (am open to correction) 'write off' what they cannot recover, so more taxe dues are avoided.

 

And at the final hurdle, there are the bailiffs - who are bound by laws which still allow them to act almosts as thieves - destroyers of lives that will already have lost so much and have very little left.

 

They are parasites - they're like the half-orcs, created by the mindless diggers that are the DCAs with the tacit approval of the financial institutions in their ivory towers

 

They could not exist without the debt laden society that has been developed.

 

 

But this is the difficult bit - the reality is that we called them into being - hard to accept, but that is true. We are, as a society, collectively responsible for allowing this mess.

 

I don't have an answer for what to do about it. I would love to see a huge change in the law that stops this 'selling on' of debts - selling on of lives.

 

And maybe we'll start to get there when this pack of cards does tumble as I feel sure it must eventually.

 

But for now - every time one of the mindless diggers tries to wind you up, just imagine them, sitting in their holes, with no fresh air, no sunlight, no joy, feeding only on pain and despair and being generally pox ridden, (silently) thank them for the opportunity to know how to feel pity for a parasitic entity and in doing so, know that you are so much better than they ever could be!

[Mr lex]

How did I miss this !!!!

 

Stunning piece of work Phoenix

 

Consider yourself tickled

 

Lex

[Mr lex]

Oh, it wont let me

[paulson1985]

Your post made me smile sweetheart it really did.

 

I am a lot older than you but I remember a saying from my uncle oh so many years ago and it holds true more so today than it ever did it was.

 

" If you cant pay for something do without it until you have saved enough to buy it ".

 

In other words resist the temptation of credit and interest rates. Pay cash for everything, save for things you want and guess what ? you will appreciate things an awful lot more.

[joemay]

Your post made me smile sweetheart it really did.

 

I am a lot older than you but I remember a saying from my uncle oh so many years ago and it holds true more so today than it ever did it was.

 

" If you cant pay for something do without it until you have saved enough to buy it ".

 

In other words resist the temptation of credit and interest rates. Pay cash for everything, save for things you want and guess what ? you will appreciate things an awful lot more.

 

I remember when I was a kid, (it wasn't that long ago) HP was around but credit cards were very rare, the thing I do remeber was when my dad went into the shop to buy a large item, he always asked the price, then followed up with how much for cash, he always got a discount:)

[maxine989]

A great piece of writing pheonix.

 

I too can remember all the saying from the old days, sayings of 'if you can't afford it, don't buy it until you've saved'... 'how much for cash' and 'spend a penny save a penny' and all that.

 

These days we are drilled with sayings like 'buy now pay later'... and I suppose we have become a society who thought it was acceptable and normal to incur such great debts. Then... when the credit crunch came along with redundancies and suddenly there is no money left in the pot, those saying of 'buy now pay later' sound ridiculous and the old sayings of 'save your pennies' seem very sensible indeed.

 

I can remember getting my first credit card as a young woman.. barely 20... and thinking how great it was to be able to use it to get things whenever I wanted. I had not even left home or learned any of life's major lessons... let alone know what mess it would get me into in the future.

 

I am now riddled with debt of over 25K (not counting my stupid massive mortgage... with a stupid massive fixed interest rate that I can't get out of for another two years) and am ashamed to say I that I was sucked in to the 'buy now, pay later' life-style. I can only take all this as another lesson in life... and hopefully come out better for it and educate my children the old fashioned values of money.

 

In the meantime... I plod on... and when I try to fall sleep at night... I don't get stressed, I think 'sod them... sod the lot of them... they can have their £1 per month and lump it!'

[phoenix11]

I love your avatar, Maxine - really makes me smile.

 

I can't decide if it's an old dearie like me paying small homage to keep fit excercises, or a hacked off, 'faff off - don't bother me with your DCA's!' , or "All this stuff going round and round and round - like swatting flies".

 

I don't think anyone should feel ashamed of being sucked in or caught up in the debt quagmire from being a part of the buy now - pay later lifestyle.

 

It's not something that was actually easy to live without - in many cases it was as near as dammit forced on us.

 

I can remember many years ago going to a very very large furniture/sofa store and wanting to buy (pay for) a sofa only to be told I had to have a credit check.

 

Why? I don't want credit - I want to buy and pay for a sofa.

 

You can't - we still have to do a credit check! You have to have on on a buy now, pay later option.

 

I didn't buy the sofa from them. I didn't know if I had rights - but I didn't want to be 'checked' - I had money, I wanted to pay then.

 

And I can remember 'older' people on radio programmes, complaining that they were not being respected for wanting to buy things outright and that they're 'old fashioned' way of wanting to live was ridiculed.

 

And as time went by, we all had to buy into the credit culture one way or anther - sometimes it just didn't seem like it, until it all went pear-shaped.

 

And - it's still with us - people are still being encouraged to take out cards and loans with no regard as to whether they'll be in employment, able to pay in the future.

 

So, until such time as the financial sector, business, industry, and government have the will to change how finances are managed, all people can do is to steadfastly refuse to get sucked in again and do whatever feels right for them.

 

I've been lied to (and I do mean 'lied') over the years by banks, endowment policy providers and recently I've been misled and near 'tricked' into taking on more debt.

 

I own my debt - I do not own the sharp practices that caused it to become even more onerous and devastating and which have refused to support me in repaying that debt.

[maxine989]

'I own my debt - I do not own the sharp practices that caused it to become even more onerous and devastating and which have refused to support me in repaying that debt'.

 

Well said!!

 

I have a hard job convincing my hubby that everything will be ok. He worries far more than me. Although I still have moments of 'oh lordy how are we going to survive this'?... as the car breaks, the boiler stops working and the there's no money in the pot for this weeks food shopping... I have come to realise over these last few years of financial hardship that worrying just makes you ill and spoils your life. With the support of CAG, and it's members, our friends and family, financial problems are shared and we can feel well supported on here. And as for the car and the boiler.... well, it's summer and there's nowt wrong with walking!!

 

My avatar... ha ha.. yeah... Commonly known as 'wofter' to a few other fellow Caggers. He seems to be in 'oh my giddy aunt' turmoil with the financial struggle of life... but is merely batting away those parasites!! ha!

[Regulus]

Couldn't agree with you more phoenix, I remember being 18 and wanting to buy a playstation 2. I wandered into Curry's and arranged a repayment with them which I would maintain all the way to completion. I always though that these were simple solutions to help them make sales long term and that they just allowed people to pay bit by bit, and that I may be required to pay over the odds for the privilege. 2 weeks later I find out that they take a loan out on a customers behalf with HFC bank, and thats who I was no dealing with. I find this out after they called me to tell me I had an extra £1700 of a loan that was unused. Of course being 18 I didn't know any of what I know now and just went wild, and it spiralled out of control with loans, credit cards overdrafts et al. And yet, no one, at any point thought to stop and tell me the consequences of running up debt, nor did anyone ever stop and ask why I wanted all this money. Sure I probably would have lied anyway, but I was 18 and without a clue as to how serious this debt could prove to be.

 

I like to think of them as vultures, but parasites is exactly the right word for them too. It's easy to think we've brought this upon ourselves, those of us who are in debt, but at the core, if we are not informed of how things work, and nobody is out there to assist us in this minefield, can we as consumers truly blame ourselves as the banks want us too? I say not. We have been duped, we have been lied to, we have been taken in and shown a grand life and smothered with riches, then slapped in the face when we dare ask why.

 

This financial service that is embedded in our society is nothing more than a vicious cancer that is slowly killing us all. We as consumers are the white blood cells but we can't fight back on our own. It is time for the government to take a stand and be the surgeon to cut the cancer out before it becomes terminal, if it isn't already too late.