Hook, line and sinker

I am thankful for so many things. Thanksgiving does that to a gal. Near the top of my list is the fact that I am debt-free. It took a very long time to get to this point in my life (our lives, LOML and I). When we started out as newlyweds, in the sixties, we had nothing in the bank, a car loan, an eight dollar a week budget for groceries and a student loan—or two. And until 1972, one or the other of us— sometimes both—were in school and held both part-time and full-time jobs. We talked about and dreamed of a day when we would be finished school and each have only one full-time job.

And then. And then, the bank we dealt with thought it was a good idea to send us a “Master Charge” card— back in the day when banks did that. Yup, banks sent credit cards in the mail with no questions asked. The moment you used it, you accepted the responsibility for the debt. We were flattered and fell for the credit card “come-on” hook, line and debtforever sinker. All of the things we thought we’d have to save for were suddenly available to us. Believe me, we weren’t living the high life at the time. Suddenly we were able to pick up little extras wherever credit was accepted—and at that time, not too many places accepted credit cards for purchases. The nice thing was, our bank assured us we could afford it all because we were young and had our whole lives ahead of us.

Last week, our bank sent (by snail mail) to each of us, an offer they figured we couldn’t refuse. Well, not really an offer, more an idea and I’m sure thousands of bank customers received the same “idea.” Times must be tough for banks when they come up with marketing strategies to get people to use their credit cards to pay their fixed expenses A shiny tri-fold brochure extolled the benefits of paying our hydro, vehicle fuel, heating expenses, property taxes, water and sewage—you name it—with our credit card. The shiny, tri-fold brochure we received tauntingly outlined the major advantages of using credit to pay those fixed living expenses. Just think of how many Airmiles a gal could accumulate each month! And, think how terrific it would be never having to worry about getting a “window envelope” in the mail, ever again—those dreaded bills we deal with when we choose to live like grownups. Yessir, imagine the great sense of relief that would sweep over us not having to think about digging out the cheque book, buying a stamp or firing up the PC to pay our bills online. Sheesh, banks know how to make life easy! And think about this, there could be a month—December, for instance— when we want to buy a few extras (like Christmas presents) and maybe not pay the full balance on the old credit card. Of course, the shiny brochure didn’t directly suggest December and/or Christmas, but you get the picture. With the average credit card debt for each and every Canadian being a paltry $25,000, it’s about time we all did our part for the banks’ bottom line, right?

The truth is, we were young when we received our first credit card. Did I mention “flattered”? We were flattered because it felt like we belonged to an exclusive club whose members had “arrived.” We didn’t know the dangers of not paying “in full” every month and like a lot of all y’all, we slowly but surely started looking at credit as an extension of our incomes. Over the next 20 years, we paid many, many thousands of dollars in interest on those balances. We grinned and salivated as the limit on that card was raised every time we came close to paying it off. More money to spend! We became, like a lot of people, resigned to being “in debt.” Debt was a lifestyle. It didn’t seem sinister or insidious. Debt became a part of our genetic makeup and we often sought the comfort of friends in the same leaky boat. We found we had a lot of in-debt-company and that made it all seem a bit of “okay.”

Today I am thankful because we stood back, figured it out and dumped the debt. What really makes me angry is the relentless pressure from banks to keep Canadians in debt. All of the energy Canadian banks expend scheming, marketing and glossy trifold tantalizing us into more and more debt could be used to get us to invest in their products—their certificates of deposit, their RRSPs, their savings accounts and their shares. At the very least, it’s time for Canadian banks to spend some of their billions of dollars in profits on their customers to let them know what the words “debit” “credit” and “debt” really mean. Time for the bank to teach us how money makes sense.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca