The other day a sales manager at a car dealership told me that he has customers trying to buy cars who are behind several months in mortgage payments. As everyone knows, if you are looking to finance a car they will do an extensive credit check. There is no hiding from your credit history.
I don’t blame a salesperson for being very frustrated that the customer forgot to mention this fact until the credit check comes back with black marks. But more of a concern to me is….Why are these families who are already so heavily in debt looking to add more?
As I have written about many times, we need to start teaching our children at a very early age how to manage money. By the time they graduate high school they should informed enough to go out into the world and manage their finances. We have an epidemic in this country of people with debt so high they are drowning in it. I think a lot of the problems come from people not understanding what they are getting themselves into…They have no idea what they are signing and less of an understanding of what will happen if they default on a loan.
How do we fix this problem? Make it mandatory that any company that offers a line of credit offers credit counseling before signing up a new customer. Hold companies accountable for offering a credit line to someone who already has a credit problem. It is despicable behavior for a company to charge outrageous interest rates just to get a customer to sign the dotted line.
If we really want to fix the problem…let’s educate consumers before they find themselves ready to throw in the towel.
