Home › Daily Prompt › #FOWC › A CREDIT TO YOUR BANK? – Marilyn Armstrong

A CREDIT TO YOUR BANK? – Marilyn Armstrong

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FOWC with Fandango — Credit

Credit. That’s the money you don’t have that you spend anyway because look at that HUGE line of credit. I could buy a car with that kind of money!

Of course, then there’s paying it back which is so much less fun than spending it.

Merry Christmas from my cactus to yours!

With Christmas no longer the spend until you have topped out all your cards thing it used to be, we manage to survive. Financial credit is the best and worst thing in our lives. When you need it, you need it. When that chimney needs fixing and the carpenter ants are eating your doorsill and the window is falling out, it’s credit or waiting until the house crumbles.

Otherwise?

Let’s dream about money falling from the skies into our open arms … and not use a credit card!

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Categories: #FOWC, #Photography, Daily Prompt, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Money

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18 replies

  1. swo8
    12/01/2018 • 13:47

    For a short period of time I was a millionaire. The bank credited our account with 2 million dollars. The mistake was noticed immediately (perhaps from my reaction) and reversed.
    Leslie

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  2. Fandango
    12/01/2018 • 13:47

    I shop almost exclusively online (except for groceries), so a credit card is indispensable. But it’s also too easy to spend money, so it takes diligence to make sure we are mindful about our online purchases. And I pay off the card each month to avoid those exorbitant interest charges. I’m fortunate to be able to do that.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/01/2018 • 23:02

      That was my intention, but Garry didn’t retire voluntarily and I was too sick to work anymore. Actually, I was a lot sicker than I even knew at the time, so we were thrown into a zero income for nearly two years. Even when Garry collected from Channel 7, it was peanuts and it basically kept us in the house and not on the street. We didn’t have medical care, either and I just kept getting sicker until I was pretty much dead. ONE doctor took me into the hospital, performed previously never performed surgery and saved my life. I never saw a bill. Nothing.

      By the time we got the mortgage reduced, I had finished one series of surgeries, but I had cancer in both breasts and the bank finally caved and reduced the mortgage. It was Obama’s program, but by then, we were dead poor. I got a little money when my father died, but it was just enough to fix our well and septic system. After that, it got a little better, but they let Garry go in the classic way that corporations do it — He was 59.5, JUST before his full pension would have vested. And we would have beaten them in court. But we couldn’t wait. We’d have been living on the street, so we settled. We’ve managed to find a way to live, but there are no savings.

      Every time something in the house needs fixing — and houses ALWAYS need fixing — it’s credit because Social Security doesn’t give you extra money for taking care of your house. And of course, Garry’s little pensions get smaller each year. It didn’t have to be this way, but the people running the station at that point were a bunch of total assholes.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. RhScribbles
    12/01/2018 • 13:27

    Being credit card free for 16 years was the best gift we gave ourselves. But now it is sooooooo tempting. Living on social security on one required distribution does not nearly cover all. So we are eliminating some of our bills (like Netflix). Not a big chunk but every chunk counts!!

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  4. sheilasembroidery
    12/01/2018 • 13:24

    I’m married to an accountant, the house was our only credit bill to pay and that’s paid off now. It’s the kids coming out of university in the UK and elsewhere with massive credit debts that frightens me.

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  5. Melanie B Cee
    12/01/2018 • 13:11

    Heh. Yeah. I look at MY bill and shudder. I heard a fellow give a talk a very long while back about why credit cards are a huge quick sand pit. I meant to cut mine up, I honestly did, but hey! And given Huny’s turn for the worse health problems, and other unexpected expenses…I’m grateful enough for it all the same. But (as you said) OY! That bill…

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/01/2018 • 13:14

      The thing is, we need money we don’t have, so we use credit. Which makes the amount of available money even smaller. But what are you going to do? Let the dog die? Let the chimney fall down? Let the windows sag then fall to the ground? There are only so many choices, so if you really don’t have the money and something urgently needs doing — medical, housing, food, survival — that’s where credit comes in. It’s paying it off that’s really terrifying. Spending is EASY.

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  6. choosingmyperspective
    12/01/2018 • 13:10

    Oh my, it sounds like you’ve been to my house!!!

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/01/2018 • 13:11

      I think I’ve been to EVERYONE’s house. That’s how we survive unless we are one of the billionaires. I hate using credit to keep the house going, but what’s the alternative? Letting it just crumble into a pile of dirt?

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Sadje
    12/01/2018 • 12:47

    Your post is a credit to you. 😊

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