My case is about my finances…. Because I paid a debt on time, I was given a credit card. After that, other institutions offered me credit cards. The problem is that today I have six cards, and all of them are past due. And that’s not all: I have other debts, and now I am not able to pay. I need counsel from God and a miracle that restores my finances.
Dear Friend,
Unfortunately, there are many people who will identify with your problem. Banks very frequently send offers for new credit cards, and when people don’t handle their credit with care, they find themselves in situations similar to yours. But looking for a miracle or a big lottery win is not the way to solve your problem. You must decide to do the difficult work of changing your lifestyle and of not buying anything that is not absolutely necessary until you have paid off your debts, even though that might take years.
It won’t be easy, but you can make the changes that are necessary if you want to have peace in the future. You need to carefully follow these steps:
- Completely destroy all your credit cards and do not apply for any others.
- Call each of the credit card companies, explain your situation, and ask them to give you a reduced monthly payment so that you will be able to make that payment. Of course this will cause you to pay more interest over the life of the loan, but making the monthly payments will keep your credit from getting any worse.
- Each month you must pay the minimum amount from every card, and any extra money should be paid to the credit card with the highest interest rate.
- Be very careful when choosing a financial advisor or counselor, and try to find one who is paid by the government or a community organization, and not one who is taking advantage of you by charging a percentage of your debt for helping you.
- Always pay the minimum payment on time. If you are late, the interest rate may be raised on all your cards. For example, if you are paying 12 percent now, they could raise the rate on all the cards to as high as 22 percent just because your payment is late on one card.
The truth is that you and your family really need supernatural wisdom to dig yourselves out of the hole that you are in. But thank God, when we decide to have a personal relationship with Him as our Heavenly Father, He is able to give us that wisdom. And though what we need is not exactly a miracle, we definitely need counsel from God, just as you admit that you need. Some of the best counsel inspired by God that we have to offer you is the following advice that the Apostle Paul gave to the Romans, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”(1)
We wish you well,
Linda
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1 Ro 13:8