The Good Life on a Budget

• Posted by JvW on February 5th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized

Driving around the other day, I heard an ad on the radio for a contest. It went something like this:

Christmas is over, all the decorations have been put away, but there’s still one “present” left to open…. your BILLS.

(psycho stabbing music)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!

Just send in your bill and we’ll pay it for you! (Up to $500.)

The premise is simple enough - send in your bill, they call your name and if you call back within 30 minutes, they will pay your bill for you. Sounds great, right? Like a dream come true? Not really.

I think it’s an awful idea. Sure, I’d love to have an extra $500 payment to the credit cards. Heck, I’d like to have an extra $100 to the credit cards. I just can’t believe that we’re live in such a world where this is what is going on.

I can picture it now: “Oh, I can buy shiny new things because the radio station will pay off my credit card!” I can picture it because I can see myself saying something similar a few short years back. And I know exactly what would happen if, at that time, I had won a $500 payment to my credit card. I would then go out and charge another $500 worth of stuff. Nothing important, nothing even significant. I would probably wonder why I was back up at my limit again.

Perhaps this is judgmental, but in my experience, the quick payoff doesn’t solve the root problem. Just like after a fad diet, people tend to regain weight, after a quick payoff, people tend to regain debt. I don’t think this would really help most people to achieve a better financial position. I am not even entirely convinced that if I were to win it now, I wouldn’t “celebrate” by putting less to our debt, and instead would use the won money to treat myself. Maybe not all $500 of it, but at least a little bit.

Debt payoff is not only about throwing your dollars into the money pit that you have created. It is about the change in attitude that ultimately comes with the territory. I have been in debt, and back out of debt before. Until I can use credit wisely, I shouldn’t be using it at all. Of course it is easier to buy things now and worry about paying for them later. But that’s what got us into the mess in the first place.

I’m not impressed by this radio station’s sad attempt to garner high ratings. I hope that some of the winners out there are really helped by the money.