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Three Barriers To Getting Out Of Debt

By Cathy Moran

get out of debt

Three emotions, not reasons, keep people from filing bankruptcy and getting out of debt.

While not as sexy as the seven deadly sins,  these emotions still keep my clients mired in debt long after logic says “quit”.

Fear

Stubbornness

Pride

These emotions keep people mired where they are. They block the road forward.

Fear

Fear of the unknown probably kept our primitive ancestors alive.  In the age of the internet when nothing remains unknown, it’s ironic that fear continues to keep people from filing bankruptcy.

People fear life in a consumer society without credit.  They fear being branded as a failure.  They fear the judgment of others about whether they are worthy of bankruptcy relief.

Some of this fear is rooted in bad information that circulates;  some of it is deliberately planted by those who profit as long as you avoid the bankruptcy remedy.

So, I’m with Franklin Roosevelt:  all we have to fear is fear itself.

Stubbornness

It’s hard to knock stubbornness, even when it keeps people doing foolish things.  After all, stubbornness, the drive to finish what you started, is often a virtue.

I’m talking about the attitude that says “these are my debts, and by d***n, I’ll get them paid”.  Honorable, but not always rational.

See how long it takes to pay off a modest credit card balance by paying the monthly minimum.

After all, life is about choices, and the choice to keep chipping away at a Mt.Rushmore of debt means usually that some other need, real and important, goes unmet.  The greatest of these neglected choices, in my world, is retirement savings.

Cultivate stubbornness as a virtue, and the negative events of the past poison your future as far as the eye can see.

Pride

 I’m not the kind of person that files bankruptcy, I often hear.

Well, what kind of person is it that files bankruptcy?

It’s people who’ve gotten sick, even with health insurance;  people who’ve divorced;  people who’ve lost jobs; and people who got suckered into believing that the marvels of a consumer society were available to everyone.

Bankruptcy is not a moral failing; it’s a legal solution to an economic problem.

Look around at the celebrities and the iconic corporations who have all filed for bankruptcy relief.  Do we think that they are lesser people for starting over?  Not usually.  Walt Disney, one of the more famous bankruptcy filers is an American hero.

For too many, it takes exhaustion to get over the emotional barriers:  when the wall of these corrosive emotions is worn down, rationality wins out.

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Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

About Cathy Moran

I'm a veteran bankruptcy lawyer and consumer advocate in California's Silicon Valley. I write, teach, and speak in the hopes of expanding understanding of how bankruptcy can make life better in a family's future.

Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

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Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

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