Polishstreak's entry yesterday made me think of a conversation Brian and I had a while ago after a "debt consolidation" ad came on the radio. We had a good laugh about it, it went something like this:

Woman: Thank you for calling debt consolidators, how can I help you?
Man: Well, I have three credit cards that I'm making minimum payments on and one that I'm behind on. I owe about 5000 dollars.
Woman: What interest rates are you currently paying?
Man: Between 18 and 22 percent
Woman: At those rates, it will take you twenty years to get out of debt.

Brian and I came up with our own ad, how the phone conversation would go if we called:

Them: Thank you for calling debt consolidators, how can I help you?
Us: Well, we have ten credit cards that we're making minimum payments on and two that we're behind on. We owe about 40,000 dollars.
Them: What interest rates are you currently paying?
Us: Between 18 and 22 percent
Them: At those rates, it will take you a hundred and sixty years to get out of debt!

Okay, we laughed ourselves silly then, when we figured out it would take us 160 years to pay off our bills, and it still makes me laugh when I think about it and when I hear the ad on the radio, but it's really not funny. And I don't know if anyone else would find it funny, but I find it hysterical. Of course, we're doing something about it... we're not planning on being in debt our entire lives and then some (I can't imagine what it would be like to be 185 years old. And still paying off our credit cards!). And of course we're not using our credit cards anymore.

Another thing I find funny (although I didn't at the time) was when I accidentally paid a payment to a credit card late by ONE DAY. I called to see if they would do anything about the late payment fee (come on, don't I get credit for all the times I paid the payment EARLY? ha ha). The lady said unfortunately she couldn't and something to the effect of "You just need to make sure you pay on time each month." Now there's an idea. Never thought to do that. I swear, credit card companies seriously think the general public to be complete idiots. Well, I can't totally disagree with that, but really, to tell me to pay on time each month, like I would never think to do that. Give me a break.

I have to go now, got to get to the bank. I hate being an adult.

last - next

I can't believe - 11.22.2006
life sucks - 11.19.2006
alone and unhappy - 11.14.2006
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nothing to wear - 08.28.2006

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