Paying and Paying and Paying

 

This is exactly what I mean ...you just beleive these fearfull threats because you choose to.

 

I have a bank account ...they just used to hold all my checks until they cleared ...but after 6 months of clean transactions they took the holds off at my request.  I was given a credit card within a year of my discharge from bankruptcy (seven years my ass).  I don't use it though, I don't do credit anymore.

 

As for owning a home ...no, I don't want a 500k home that will be worth a fraction of the price I paid once the baby boomers start unloading them in massive numbers to try and recoup their equity.  I know many people who would make different choices in their lives if they weren't tied to a mortgage ...and these people are often miserable as a result, leading to failed marriages, failed parenting, etc, etc.

 

As for renting an apartment ...just don't ...rent a house like I do.  Not all landlors are foolish enough to think a credit score actually reflects who you are as a person.  My landlord used to use credit scores until he noticed some of the best people on paper turned out to be some of his worst tenants.  With me he went with his gut after meeting me, and he claims we are the best tenants he's ever had and hopes we stay forever.

 

These urban legends about tragic outcomes, while occasionally true, do not apply 100% accross the board ...sometimes you just have to think outside of the box. After all, they told you getting an education was the key to your prosperity ...and how has that worked out for everyone on this site.  When someone is using fear to manipulate your choices, you can bet you are being lied to.

 

I see so many people on this site who are scared, depressed, even suicidal ...because they've been told this crisis is going to ruin their lives.  I'm just offering an alternative point of view, based on my own experience, to show how these fear based assumptions are not always true.  But, each of us has to find his or her own path ...and if you think a big house you own and a few fancy cars are going to bring you happiness, then maybe its your destiny to explore that and see if its really true... for most people it is not, and sadly they find out to late.

 

I am not a young person, and having lived on both sides of the fence, I prefer my life now a thousand fold over the years I spent in the rat race stressed out and panicking.  I used to stress over how to buy a home ...I used to think my survival depended on it.  These thoughts are what led me to go back to school at middle age, which only just succeeded in landing me in this student loan mess.  Now I realize these fears were just something I had been taught ...and they turned out to be completely false.  Gee, I wonder what the motivation was for filling my head with this crap ...profit maybe?

 

I should probably just go back to lurking on this site, I suspect I am just going to ruffle feathers.

 

Are their no comments regarding the point in my first post ...that regardless of how many years you pay, many people still owe roughly the original amount of their loan.  Nobody finds this a little suspect?

 

I don't own a home because I can't afford one and because no one will give me a mortgage anyway because of my poor credit rating and the large amount of student loans I owe.  Instead, because I have to--and indeed want to--live in the city, I pay $12,000 a year in rent, and consider myself lucky since that is far less than most people I know, and I was genuinely concerned that I would be refused the apartment I'm currently in due to my credit score.  To rent a house would cost at minimum twice what I'm currently paying.

 

Give me a person who claims that a financial nightmare does not bother him, and I will give you a person in an admirable state of complete denial.

I am sorry, but this material world forces itself upon all of us.  And let's face it.  People like Dingo aren't talking about how lots of money will make them happy. They are talking about how the constant fear of poverty scares the hell out of them.  They simply want to know that things are going to be okay.  

Paul

You didn't offend me, lalala, but your post just confirms for me that what you say--that credit doesn't really matter and that ignoring it brings peace of mind--isn't really true.  Few people have the luxury of being able to add to the search time for an apartment, or to hunt far and wide for a bank that will do business with them.  And having bad credit doesn't just make your life harder, it makes it more expensive as well: for instance, you can get a secured credit card, but you'll pay more for it. 

Giving up the high-stress corporate rat-race (what I assume you were referring to when you mentioned the "glass ceiling") is one thing; trying to survive with a low income and bad credit is a vastly different thing.  As paulaffleck says, it's not about living a simpler life by rejecting materialism/consumerism, but rather about surviving in a world where, like it or not, things like one's credit rating matter a great deal and can affect every aspect of one's life. 

As for my PhD, well, at present it's not looking good.  My bad credit, due to a bankruptcy caused in part by student loans, means I can't consolidate my outstanding student loans (which will be in repayment as of February) in one bank loan.  That means that, while a person with good credit could probably negotiate a lower monthly payment of the total amount owing, I can't.  Meanwhile all my PhD-related funding runs out in August, leaving me with three choices: 1.  go bankrupt a second time; 2. quit my program and go to work to pay off the loans; 3. try to work full time while writing a PhD dissertation.