By: Darrell Castle

Consumer demand is resulting in earlier than ever Christmas and “Black Friday” sales.

As I was walking through Macy’s last week to grab a hot chocolate from Starbucks, I passed through employees preparing Christmas shopping displays. Tis NOT the season yet.

This was BEFORE Halloween. There were still two more months and two more big holidays before the Christmas month of December was to arrive.

It left me wondering, “why so early?”

And then, shortly after, I saw a headline on the news claiming that consumer demand has sparked earlier holiday sales. Now it all makes sense!

Are we really at a point in which Halloween candy is on isle 3 and the newest Christmas deals are on isle 4?

It’s no wonder why American consumers owe $11.63 trillion dollars in debt (up from 3.8% last year), including $880.5 billion in credit card debt. Is there a possible correlation with those numbers and the “consumer demand” causing these early shopping sales? It’s likely.

Americans are addicted to shopping. And it’s easy to pull your wallet out when you see great deals you want to take advantage of, even if you don’t have the money to. OH but that’s when you should use a credit card, so you can grab those deals NOW, and then pay for them LATER, right?

NO. With high interest rates and a lack of financial responsibility, this decision often turns out to be a dangerous one for many people.

I have some advice for you this Christmas season.

By all means, take advantage of deals if you can afford to do so (for the purpose of saving money), but DON’T buy into these “great” holiday shopping deals if you DON’T have the money.

Give your credit card a rest during this Christmas season – you’ll be grateful you did. With one missed payment here and one missed payment there, you can quickly fall into a lot of debt. Even if you’re making the minimum monthly payment on time each month, the interest rates can cause the debt to spiral out of control.

You should avoid debt traps as much as possible. However, as a bankruptcy attorney, I know how difficult that can be sometimes.

Fortunately, if you do fall into debt, then you don’t have to live enslaved to that debt. Instead, you should consider filing for bankruptcy.

By filing for bankruptcy, you can discharge your dischargeable debt through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or lump your debt into an affordable repayment plan over a longer period of time.

Once the bankruptcy process is complete, you have a fresh start to begin spending money the RIGHT WAY.

At Darrell Castle & Associates, we not only want to help you get out of debt through bankruptcy, but we also want to provide you with the tools to succeed after.

That’s why we offer you free access to 7 Steps to a 720, an online credit restoration course that will teach you the tips and tricks the banks don’t want you to know in regards to re-establishing and rebuilding your credit score the right way.

Call (901) 327-2100
today to schedule a FREE consultation with an experienced attorney, or fill out one of the contact forms on this page.