Reply #7: I dumped plastic in 1991 [View All]

[Warpy]

when those junk fees and demands for ridiculously low minimum payments appeared. I smelled the beginning of a scam and I was right.

I didn't get to join friends on trips to Europe. I didn't buy much of anything new unless I got a really great deal at an auction. I cooked for myself and ate a lot of beans and rice. I survived on shrinking wages without a credit card to supplement them.

That's my protest. The other effective protest is to pay them off monthly, although everybody in trouble started out that way, too.

As for not paying the mortgage, it all depends on what rents in your area are doing. If you want to eat a foreclosure and just save your money for six months, renting a week or two before the eviction, let your conscience be your guide. I can't imagine being stuck in California with a shack purchased at the height of the insanity that would rent for a quarter of the monthly mortgage check. For other people in normal areas where rents and the monthly payment are close, it's insanity to avoid paying.

The only other thing I can suggest is voting against incumbents across the board, working especially hard to oust them during primaries.