Oprah – America’s Debt Diet

QueenB.

I actually saw this programme on ITV2 the other week, i was shocked more by the attitude of the Parents in one of the familys, they just kept paying for all their childrens needs even thought the kids where in their late teens, they only had to pout and mummy and daddy handed over the money. The amount they where spending was quite mad, and to me it seemed quite obvious what they had to do but can't say that one of the families really seemed very dedicated.

Still i found the whole thing interesting as it was a US alternative to our beloved Martin. I will certainly be trying to keep up with all the progress.

snoozer

OMG:eek:

Just watched this and couldn't believe it - one family had been spending $29,000 a year eating takeaway for every meal.:eek:

But I think the worst was when they said about the bank - apparently the woman banked her pay with them and they would give her an advance on this if she asked but then charged her 120%APR:eek: :eek: :eek:

One thing that was said that seemed to fly in the face of what is said here was to pay off the CCs with low balances first, not the ones with the higher interest rates!! Didn't quite understand the logic in that unles it was a motivational thing - you'd keep going if you saw the cards disappearing.

Claudie

Hi Snoozer - I think it was motivational and I got the impression as soon as one card paid off that money would be used for another. I think their card interest is calculated differently too, by the sounds of it, every time they missed a payment their interest rate went up as well as late charges. Bizarre.

But imagine never having been round a supermarket with a trolley..if I ate out every day I would be big as a house let alone broke!

Claudie

is on now so I decided to bump this up. I think this is a new series as this season just started last week on ITV2.

no_debts_no_more

snoozer wrote:

OMG:eek:
One thing that was said that seemed to fly in the face of what is said here was to pay off the CCs with low balances first, not the ones with the higher interest rates!! Didn't quite understand the logic in that unles it was a motivational thing - you'd keep going if you saw the cards disappearing.

Although it doesn't make sense from a strict point of view, I can see the point if you continue the "snowball" metaphor. Assuming that you have a number of very small debts on lower interest rates than some of the higher ones, it may help make your debts seem more manageable, and you make some progress early on, if you get the actual "snowballing" bit going sooner than it might do if you followed the principle strictly.

By paying off those small debts quickly, you have the amount that would be earmarked for that repayment available for other debt repayment sooner. One of the biggest problems with repaying a number of debts is that the lack of available income gives you cashflow problems, which can lead to more debt. Freeing up cash gives you flexibilty to cope with whatever life throws at you.

I had a funeral to pay for this time last year, which I couldn't have planned or avoided paying for, so things do come up that are unavoidable and unexpected. I ended up going temporarily back into debt to cover it.

I think it all depends on the individual circumstance, and how disciplined you can be.