CAR TROUBLE

A hunched shadow slinks through the night. The dark hulk creeps closer, closer to your sleeping house. From his powerful hands hangs a length of heavy chain, though no sound breaks the eerie silence. Suddenly, he stops dead. He sees what he wants. What he has come to do, he will do.

A strange cloud moves across the moon's face like a ghost ship, and the face of the Creature is revealed! It's...It's...It's...It's Repo Man! It'll take him about 4 minutes to get your car on the flatbed. Oh, shift! There goes your whole life! You really should have kept up those payments, but you couldn't because they ate up half your paycheck.

You bought too much car, and now its gone, but your troubles have just begun!

Repo man will haul your beautiful "ex" straight to the auction company. There it will sit 15 days while you have the golden opportunity to come up with the entire loan balance plus fees.

Let's just say you don't. Then what? It auctions for $1,800. The balance left on your loan was $3,000. Guess who gets to pay the difference? Yep. YEW! Your lender will sue you for the "deficiency balance " of $1,200 plus attorney fees, etc.

If you don't pay:

• An outstanding judgment will show on your credit report for 7 years, and you wont be able to get credit and certainly not a home loan.

• The lender can garnishee your wages (take money out of your paycheck) before you even see it!

• Some employers will not hire a person with more than 2 occasions of "attached wages ".

MONEY- DUMB!

If you fall for these come-ons, you may be "financially illiterate"!

"Instant Credit" . . . (we will satisfy your childish urge for instant gratification so that you will not get out of the store and compare prices, or take a few days to think about whether you really need another doodad.)

"Easy Credit". . . (we will appeal to the lazy irresponsible side of you, and make it so easy to buy this geegaw that you will never stop to think about the actual cost after all the interest is added.)

"Pay-by-the-Week" . . . (but if you are one day late, we will slam down hard with late fees or repossession).

"Rent-To-Own" . . (and pay 2 to 4 times as much for half the quality)

"No Credit Check". . . (we'll do a favor because we are nice guys and oh yeah, sign here whether you can afford the payment or not).

"Lease/Purchase Agreement" . . . (I'm a landlord who understands your credit problems and will give you a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to buy this house. Never-mind that you don't understand the terms and that I'm out to rip you off in ways you won't realize for a few years or until it's time to put the deed in your name!).

"Let us Open an Account for You" ....(so you will tie up your future earnings with us and will not shop with our competitors).

Falling for easy credit gimmicks is often the first
mistake we make in ruining our credit and our future

Sick Spending

• You think you "deserve" to have money, whether you earn it or not.
• You buy extravagant toys that will bring people to your house and make you feel popular.
• You often "celebrate" with shopping.
• You "medicate" with shopping to kill the pain of a lost commission, a fight with your husband, being "left out," losing a game, flunking a test, etc.
• You don't "feel right" unless you buy something new that day.
• You haunt garage sales, flea markets, or thrift shops looking for great stuff at bargain prices even though you have no more room in your house.
• If you don't have as much money as your friends, you feel inferior.
• You cannot seem to save any money at all.
• Someone in your family constantly complains about your spending.
• You quickly get defensive and angry when someone criticizes your buying habits.
• You buy things for "later" and then forget about them or do not like them.
• You throw away or give away a lot of things that have barely been used.
• You "hate" rich people.
• You feel that people who don't have money aren't important.
• You have nightmares about losing all of your money.
• You would steal and trick and hurt people to get money.
• Your kids know how to "work you" for the next new thing. You know you are being manipulated, but you don't say "NO."
• You must keep spending to get something "perfect" —your body image, your car, your house, your sports equipment, etc..
• You can't resist a "bargain," so you buy another one even though you have three at home.
• You somehow feel that money is magic; if you go ahead and charge it, the money will "appear" from somewhere.
• You hoard, grasp, and feel like "there will never be enough."
• Money is very fuzzy in your mind. You never quite know where it comes from or where it goes.
• Sometimes you see stuff in the store you "would do anything to get"—stuff "you would kill for."
• Sometimes you sit and look around at all your stuff, and it makes you sick.
• You were happier when you "had nothing."
• You feel an inner need to "simplify" but don't know where to start.
• You think money is the most Important thing in the world.

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