Credit cards. I had huge problems because of it. I had two about a decade ago. In the first week I had my very first credit card, I maxed it out. I bought a refrigerator for my mom. I bought my siblings clothes and shoes. I treated my family to a sumptuous lunch. I bought my dad a CD player.
After a month of that one fine day, the bill started arriving. Since I could only the minimum payment required, the interests/finance charges piled up. Every time the bill arrives, I dreaded to see how much interest was added to my existing debt. The penalties also started piling up. Before I knew it, I was neck-deep in debt and I could barely make ends meet!
I began dropping calls from collection agents. I really dreaded month-ends because that’s when bills arrived and the calls came. I knew I was in trouble already but my priority was my siblings tuition fees and the food my family would eat before any bill payment. That was my mistake.
Until the day came when a subpoena arrived. I was already sued by the credit card company for defaulting on payments. I could not meet payments anymore and the loan ballooned out of proportion.
What I did was I settled with the bank personally. I asked for an amnesty. I was tasked to pay 3,000 pesos per month which was what I could meet that time. And then when I had a windfall, I paid what was left of my credit card debt.
The good thing is that I was given a clearance by the credit card company saying that I was cleared of any obligation to them. The bad side of it all was I got a bad credit standing that until now I was suffering from.
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