When Debt Controls You

You believe that debt is a perpetual companion because it's been around you for so long. You let your spending habits drive you while you fall asleep in the passenger seat. You've let yourself get comfortable with debt and started thinking of it as a friend, while letting it take control of your life.

You let your uncontrolled spending get you in a heap of debt. Then the debt lulls you into the belief that you don't have to think about the destination that it's taking you. It appears that all is fine between you and your debt.

As long as debt is in control and you don't have to wake up to look at the your financial road map, you feel safe and secure.. You've let your debt drive you for years and debt has always been a pretty good driver, or so you are led to believe.

But something has happened along the way. Unbeknownst to you, while you have been asleep, debt has been stopping along the road and picking up more nasty, hitchhiking, bad debt.

And you still don't have a clue where your debt is taking you because you are in a state of denial. Your debt is swerving around creditors and bill collectors and driving you head on into bankruptcy, while you snooze away.

Luckily for you, debt hits a reality bump in the middle of the road and it wakes you up. Reality sets in and you start wondering where all the bad debt came from. Then you realize that it all belongs to you.

You panic, you start sweating, you can't sleep any more, you have an anxiety attack, and feel lost along the way. You start wondering where you went wrong financially and then you become aware of the fact that debt is driving you into a no man's land of financial ruin.

You don't know what to do because debt is in control and it won't let you drive. You don't know where your debt is taking you but you know that you can't keep going in the same direction.

What are you going to do? Debt can take you on a trip that you don't want to go. It can be a financial nightmare.

But there are solutions to controlling financial problems that are caused by bad debt. You have to gain control of your debt, face your financial problems, and create your own positive ending.

Read "When You Control Your Debt."

Finance Topic of the Month: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)