Financial Fallout – See the Signs
These are the ten early warning signs that point to impending debt disaster. Be sure to look out for these symptoms and take action quickly to free yourself from the stress of mounting debt.
1. The first tell-tale sign will commonly be a distinct lack of savings. Emergency expenses can occur at any time and it’s good to have something put away for a rainy day. If you’ve been eating into your savings, your outgoings have overtaken your income. This is the first step towards bad debt.
2. If you’re only making the minimum payment on your credit cards, you could be heading for debt trouble. The minimum is often so low that it has little impact on your debt. So, even though you are making payments each month, payments greater than those outlined by your credit card company, your financial situation is not actually getting much better.
3. While you’re trying to pay your credit card bill, you continue to run up the bill. It should also serve as a debt warning if you are relying on your credit card to purchase groceries and other everyday items.
4. If you’ve got a credit card that is continually near, or even over its credit limit, it’s a sign that you could be heading towards more serious debt problems. Although you may be able to meet the monthly repayments now, it doesn’t take a lot for the circumstances to change.
5. Every once in a while, you are a little late in making your utility bill payments or settling your credit card bills and it’s getting more frequent. Again, you might well find this situation manageable now but unforeseen expenses can make your life much more complicated.
6. It can be a slippery slope towards serious debt if you fail to stay on top of your finances. For those people that don’t know exactly how much debt they’re in, it can be difficult to see debt problems on the horizon. Failure to monitor your level of debt is a sign of severe debt problems.
7. Using a cash advance from your credit card to pay your usual monthly bills can lead to serious debt woes. Every once in a while, the cash advance facility on your card can be a useful tool but depending on it is a sure fire sign of impending debt problems.
8. It sounds obvious but if you find yourself bouncing checks or exceeding your overdraft limit, you could be accumulating bank penalty charges. These can quickly mount up and put you at risk of serious debt problems.
9. If you’ve been denied credit, it points to a damaged credit rating. This might not necessarily mean that you are destined for severe debt problems but unless you take action and address the situation quickly, it could snowball out of control.
10. Lying to your family about your spending habits and level of debt proves that you’re ashamed of it. You needn’t be. You need to face up to your financial problems and pretending that they aren’t there is a guaranteed way to make them worse. Talk to one of the specialist advisors at Debtsolver and they can help you avoid serious debt problems.
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