The vast majority of consumers will, at some time or another, find themselves in debt. Debt, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. Debt allows those who are not wealthy to purchase items that otherwise would be out of reach. Home and automobiles are two examples of items that might take years, if not a lifetime, to save enough to pay cash for. By using credit, which leads to debt, people are able to experience a better standard of living. As mentioned above, debt is not a bad thing, until it becomes out of control. Then it can become a very bad thing.
How can a consumer know if he or she is getting too far into debt? Here are some of the signs that might appear that consumers should be aware of.
Missing a payment because of a lack of funds: Most consumers will find themselves short of cash from time to time, but if you are missing payments on a regular basis or habitually making late payments as you try to juggle cash around, in essence, robbing Peter to pay Paul, then you may want to sit down and carefully look at your income versus your debt.
If you do not open the mail that comes from your creditors because you are afraid of what it might say, you are...