Hounded by creditors!!!

Oh okay it is not I that's being hounded by creditors... Thanks God for that!

Anyway, this afternoon they were talking about one of the staff in another department who will be resigning by month end. She has been with the company for more than 20 years and the separation benefits she'll be getting is already earmarked to pay for her debts with several people in our company and another was still trying to make a claim but it seems that all of it will already be going to a lot of people. I think one of the reason she is also deciding to leave is because so many people have been collecting from her and she was getting tired of it that she is no longer thinking about the future but just wants to clear up her present debts so she could have some peace of mind.

In the past an audit family has resigned because the credit card bills have piled up and she cannot pay it anymore. It is sooooooooooooooooo easy to be bitten by the credit card bug! They offer you free first annual dues and they say you could just make the minimum payments... they did not mention that the interest and surcharges could be so high that after a while in paying minimum you discover that your principal has not been moving and instead you are just paying for the interest... and little by little your balance is increasing instead of decreasing!
That could really give you a headache.. and all forms of other aches... a tremendous STRESS!!! And of course your productivity in the office is affected... oh okay not just your productivity but also the productivity of other staff who has to answer the telephone calls from those NASTY collectors who says that you are hiding your officemate from them. Grrrr!!! Those collectors are really nasty and persistent!!!

Life in our country is really hard... our economy is in really bad shape and most people's salary are already depleted from all the deductions made in their payroll after availing all forms of credits --- SSS, Pag-ibig, Cooperative loans... and from the small amount that's left, their personal creditors will also run after them... some of the creditors even require them to surrender their payroll ATM card so they could get it before the borrower do... so how else could one be productive and enjoy her work when she knows that she won't be getting any money from all her effort... oftentimes one would get another loan to pay for an older loan and the interest just piles up... and the more that they are in a mess...

I guess I am lucky since I have no big debts...
oh, I always borrow from Social Security System.. interest is low plus it is best that you always have a loan there to make sure that nobody else uses your name... I just paid my loan from our company cooperative and would get occasional loans but I am one of those people that is not really comfortable having loans -- I'd rather wait when I know I have something to pay for the thing I want before I buy... I use my credit card more for convenience since I get only those I can pay for when the bill is due. I am just using the extra time before the bill arrives. I know the danger of not paying the whole amount! one time I picked up the wrong balance and ended up leaving a balance of P233.00 left and when I got my next bill I had financing charge of more than double the amount... I was shocked! They have a weird way of computing for the interest... good thing I was able to ask the customer representative to reverse it (I told them I'll cancel my card if they charge it--- I got that from Weng...she is pretty clever when it comes to money.... hmmm... actually she is a genius when it comes to money!!!)...

Anyway back to our officemate... I am not really sure that resigning is the best solution for her problem...but maybe at the moment she just feels she is the tight end of her rope and she just wants to let go of that rope... I hope she falls in a safety net and bounce back...