Sunday, February 21, 2010

Why I Fired My Credit Card Companies

When I graduated high school, one of my dad's brothers took me out for breakfast and he shared his views on financial planning. This inspired me to invest regularly so that I could have a great retirement. Along the way, I fell into a trap of using credit cards. The super low offers for almost zero percent financing and the huge lines of credit were too tempting to resist. I have no one to blame but myself for taking the bait.

One morning, my wife and I took a hard look at our financial situation. We felt trapped. Our debt ratios were out of control. One choice was to borrow more on open credit cards to make payments but that meant getting into more trouble. We decided to stop the insanity of living beyond our means. We cut up our credit cards and sent letters of cancellation to all our creditors.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see banks offering credit cards at 80% interest. In ancient times, a jubilee occurred every fifty years. If a landowner had sold his land due to difficult circumstances, his land was returned to him. If someone had sold himself into slavery, he was to be freed in the year of jubilee. All debts were erased and God's people were free.

We are living in difficult times. Banks are reducing lines of credit and calling in loans. They are charging interest rates so high that people are becoming slaves to their debts. Our own government is spending money that it does not have and this is putting our children and grandchildren in a dangerous position.

Life without credit cards is freedom from financial slavery. If you are carrying zero balances on your credit cards, count your blessings. If you have taken the bait and find yourself on the hook for higher interest rates as I found myself, then take action. Call the 800 number on the back of the card and say "YOUR FIRED!" There is hope for you and for our country. Take the first step and declare this year a year of "Jubilee". God is with you and He wants you to be free.

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