How to join the new debt cutting trend. We’re all living through three “great transitions”, said the keynote speaker at a recent conference. One transition is from West to East — with the growing emphasis on China and India, another is from analog to digital, and the third is from debt to saving. Let’s look more at that third transition.
Take action now to avoid bill blues next January. Ah, summer. Time for beaches, baches, barbecues — and facing probably the year’s biggest credit card bills, or even demands for payment from loan sharks.
Two thoughts about Christmas shopping. Look at any graph of credit card spending over the years and you see a clear pattern — spikes each December as we put Christmas gifts, food and drink and holiday spending on our cards.
Cries of indignation, shock and fear from Credit Card Land. Three readers coming from three quite different perspectives responded to my last column about repaying credit card debt. One slightly indignant reader always pays his credit card bills in full, another was shocked at what happened when he didn’t one month, and the third has run up a $7000 credit card debt.
Have I got a deal for you? Pssst, want a fantastic deal? I may be able to get you into an investment with returns of just under 20 per cent a year, every year, after fees and tax. And it’s risk-free…
Q&As: Earthquake victim faces an old question: whether to invest spare money or repay a loan; Reader escapes “an endless loop” of credit card payments after using an internet Q&A service; A “me too” letter raises questions about a bank’s policy on fees.
Q&As: Have I been too easy on the banks, or is a reader being too tough?; Why does it take so long to clear a cheque in this computer age?; Inland Revenue acknowledges delays in processing student loan bonus payments.
Grab your big chance to painlessly boost your wealth. In the next few weeks, every New Zealand wage or salary earner will get a chance to considerably increase their wealth — painlessly.
Digging your way out of the big hole. You’re never in debt so deep that you can’t get out again. At least one reader of this column will be reassured by this message from Raewyn Fox, chief exec of the Federation of Family Budgeting Services.
Help for those in debt. Repaying high-interest debt is sometimes called the best investment. And there’s a way to do it that, I suspect, many people don’t know about.