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 Dear
Boomer Bucks,
Are you serious? Individuals must take responsibility and accountability
for their out-of-control spending. The bill is way overdue. You
blame the credit companies or credit issuers. In a culture where
people desire to have it all, it is not a surprise that there are
so many fools filing for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should be a safety
net for people or families that have real hardship, not simply a
way for people to have a fresh start. Many filers have filed two
or three times. Stop being so soft.
-- P.C.
Dear Boomer Bucks,
Your article overlooks one very important point. Any reasonable
human being does not borrow something without expecting to pay it
back. As such, our laws should require everyone to pay back their
debts except in extreme circumstances. The only circumstance I see
that fits into this category is the absence of sufficient income
to cover living expenses, let alone repay debt. Any income over
that which is required to cover living expenses should be directed
toward repaying debts. The "means test" ensures this is
the case and for this reason I strongly support this bill. This
will significantly lower the cost of credit for consumers like me
who use it responsibly.
-- P. R.
Dear Boomer Bucks,
The number of individuals that are pushed to declaring bankruptcy
is an indictment of our current system. The recent bill, which will
soon become law, only furthers this system and its "wrongs."
Having experienced financial hardship and by the "grace of
God" (that is, frantic balance juggling on credit card teaser
rates) only, not having to declare bankruptcy, I can attest to the
utter hostility and cynicism it has left me with. ... Austerity
is a mission in our household.
With the passing of this legislation, our lawmakers need to follow
through by passing legislation to outlaw the "loan shark"
rates that credit card companies and other lenders are allowed to
charge. This should be a logical and simultaneous requirement, as
the risk (of default) that these lenders use to justify these rates
would be substantially lowered by the bankruptcy bill being enacted
into law.
-- L.C.
From what I read, this is a bad bill. Up until two
years ago I had perfect credit and money in the bank. In December
of 2000, I was laid off from my job and haven't been working steady
until June 2004, when I obtained my current job at a salary that
is $9,000 less. To meet expenses, my wife and I started using our
three credit cards which had about $35,000 worth of credit on them.
I was able to keep up the minimum payment on them by drawing on
my savings in addition to unemployment. My savings were gone about
two years ago, and then we started falling behind on our bills.
What the credit cards companies then did was jack up the interest
rates on all three cards to 18 percent, 24 percent and 25 percent,
respectively. After I obtained my current job, as it was paying
so much less than my previous one, I still couldn't make the minimum
payment most of the time, in addition to the payments at times being
late. The accounts were cut off but we were still going deeper into
debt between the interest rates and late fees.
One credit card manager told me that this was done because of the
risk with dealing with people who don't pay their bills on time,
as some of them have no intention of paying their bills. In other
words, a person with my long history of being financially responsible
was being lumped in with the deadbeats. If I had defaulted on my
debts, I was told by them, they would sell after six months' default
to a collection agency. They would have their money and we would
still be liable for the debts. At that point they could have taken
our house, garnished wages.
Credit card companies are thieves. If we couldn't pay the interest
rate at between 6 percent and 9.9 percent, they know we can't pay
interest rates up to 25 percent. Also, credit card companies don't
want people to pay off their credit card bill. They would much rather
keep a person in debt to them for the rest of their lives so they
can continue to make money off of that person. The only way I was
able to get out of debt was to refinance my house at a higher interest
rate and pull some equity out of it, going from a 20-year to a 30-year
mortgage with a payment of about $300 more a month than before.
We can't do this again if my wife or I were to lose our jobs, as
pulling any more equity out of our house would mean a mortgage payment
we couldn't afford.
This bill if passed would mean people like myself that get into
financial trouble through no fault of our own would never get out
of debt and wouldn't have the means to re-establish themselves. Keep
Chapter 7, tighten the eligibility rules if you must, but don't
give into this tyranny of credit card companies.
-- M.G.
Dear Boomer Bucks,
Thank you for your article acknowledging that credit card companies
have significantly added to the burdens created by bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, you made no mention of the tens of
thousands of small businesses that are continually hurt by both
business and consumer bankruptcies.
There are countless small businesses that have also
struggled or failed through no fault of their own, because they
made the mistake of providing unsecured credit to consumers and
other businesses in the hopes of growing their own company. They
pay the vendor for the product, they don't get paid for the product
because of a bankruptcy and they don't make any profit. To add insult
to injury, they have to buy more product, which comes directly from
any profits they made on other sales, and they cannot just raise
their prices because they lose business. Believe it or not, not
every company is rolling around in piles of money. Small businesses
don't have the same kind of leverage as credit card companies or
mega companies. The bankruptcy reform, though flawed, might level
out some of the inequities created between big business and consumers.
I have substantial sympathy for consumers who have
encountered situations beyond their control (car accident, hospitalization
etc.), however, I have minimal sympathy for consumers who just overspend
and want an easy way out of the debt they legitimately incurred
(they don't just walk away from credit card debt). I have little
sympathy for credit card companies who have devalued credit, passing
it out freely to a customer base as widely as possible, then just
add higher rates, shorter terms, late penalties, etc., without taking
any responsibility for the financial failures they are helping to
create because they want to make a buck.
Perhaps your next article can include the middle ground
of small businesses that help build this economy.
Thanks for listening.
-- D.M.
Dear Boomer Bucks,
This is just another losing proposition for the poor guy, etc. This
administration is only interested in the big businesses, etc. My
parents years ago warned me about the Republicans, and they were
right!!! They care nothing about the little guy!!!
-- M.
Dear Boomer Bucks,
You state in your article regarding the bankruptcy bill that credit
cards are a "necessary evil." No, they are not! My husband
and I are an example of how to live without credit cards. The only
credit we have is a line of credit with our bank. We are living
within our means and on a cash basis. I will tell you that there
are times when a credit card would have eased us through some tough
times. We were glad that when the crisis was over, there were no
credit card bills waiting for us. We are teaching our four children
that they need to learn to live within their means. We also believe
that if more Americans could experience the freedom that we feel,
they too would learn to live without credit cards. By the way, we
don't earn a huge amount of money either. Our average yearly income
is around $60,000. We have two vehicles and a nice (not fancy) house.
Just wanted to let you know that there are those of us who do things
a bit differently.
-- S. Y.
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