"A Bubble Or A Snowball ?"

"A Bubble Or A Snowball ?" You would have to agree both are messy when they burst ! Today's internet headlines are filled with news about "The Credit Bubble!" as if this is new news ! This is not news to debt and credit counselors who are in the trenches attempting to clean up the mess.

Credit card delinquencies rose from 5.52 percent to 6.6 percent (measured on a "percentage of dollars outstanding" basis). And people ask WHY ? Americans have created the biggest Credit Bubble of all time! Who is it that doesn't realize that American's have been on a spending spree since the early to mid 2000's ? Consumers thought that their ever rising home values would be there to bail them out IF they got in trouble. Well, they were wrong, and terribly misinformed.

You see, it's my opinion that the problem is more like a big snow ball rolling down a steep hill rather than a bubble. As everything in the form of money sticks to the snowball creating an even larger one as it heads down hill. Now we have slumping rents and rising vacancy rates that is playing havoc on the entire commercial real estate sector. The snowball has hit a wall called reality with pieces of these collected particals splattering out on everyone and everything in its path. Messy is a gentle word in comparison.

I see the credit card holders are victims of fraud. First, few know their consumer rights. Few know that National Banks are not allowed to lend credit. Few consumers realize how much our law makers turn their heads to the corruption of the banks. The lending industry actively egged consumers on into a web of false security just as much as policymakers at the Federal level who kept interest rates too low for too long. Virtually every corner of the credit market is connected to this snow ball growing in size !

Don't believe debt collectors who start pestering you about nonpayment of credit card debt from long ago. There are statutes of limitations in each state, after which debt my no longer be collected. Find out your state's rules at www.fair-debt-collection.com/SOL-by-State.html.

Even if a debt collector offers you a discount for prompt payment, DO NOT agree to pay. Insist that the debt collector give you, in writing, the name and address of theoriginal debt holder, the account number, the date of the last transaction AND the amount of the original debt. You have a right to this information and cannot be required to pay what you no longer owe.

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