Debt Can Ruin Your Health

The adverse effects of debt on both health and relationships are well documented. The newspapers are filled with horror stories. People who do not know their spouse has borrowed tens-of-thousands of dollars, in secret. The one spouse rarely knows of the debt until the debt collectors start to call. Then, it is too late.

Or, the woman finds their husband ran up unmanageable debts when her divorce lawyer tells her that she won’t be splitting the family debts, instead they will be sharing thousands of dollars in debts. In some cases, the only option appears to be bankruptcy.

Even if your household is not sinking in debt, the stress of carrying the debt can cause serious health problems, especially heart problems.

We had this happen in our house. My husband had 2 hidden credit cards and built up $5000 of debt without telling me. This wasn’t bad, except that he had dipped into the business overdraft for another $10 000. What upset me was the ‘total lack’ of remorse or even ‘ownership’ of the debt or the problem. His attitude was ‘well – so, fix it.’ This led to a few arguments in our house.

I looked into different methods of debt repayment. First, I considered a second mortgage. This would have only increased my mortgage payments a few dollars a month, but in the long run, would have turned the debt into $42 000. Then, I considered a 5 year personal loan. This was more cost affordable, but I did a budget and realized I can pay the debt off in 2 years, saving money, and getting the ‘debt load’ from over our heads much sooner.

We chose a credit card consolidation loan, for 2 years, and a promise that my husband will never get a credit card again.