How are you in the sea of debt – afloat or sinking?

This is an advice series focused on reaching out to UAE residents who face a debt-crisis. The articles are real life situations you can find yourself in, whether you are contemplating a personal or business loan, credit card or any form of finance - or whether you already have a loan and now find yourself unable to ‘flip’ your payments.

The topic today is why have you not progressed on a debt recovery yet?

The answer is simple, you have not taken any responsibility for your actions and by that I mean, you are simply ignoring creditors’ calls, hoping they will go away. But the problem with that is the mess snowballs. Your creditors cannot contact you, so they opt for the inevitable route - legal action. Many debtors just drop their oars and take the easy way out, but you always have an option. 

One very important factor you should remember is that creditors are not bad, they are human, they have a job to do and if they granted you the credit in good faith, then it is your moral duty to meet that commitment, whether now in one payment or over a period of additional years because it holds a huge significance.

Creditors are always approachable. They know that people are still struggling, and your attitude of willingness will secure their co-operation. I am here to tell you that they will do their utmost to accommodate your payment ability. However, from thereon you must meet your commitment. If you don’t or you cannot in any one month, call them, go and meet with them and explain. Don’t wait until the situation is again uncontrollable because then you would have lost credibility and it’s difficult to recover that level of trust again.

You may think in your mind ‘What does she know?’ Frankly, I am speaking from experience. I made the closest friends out of creditors once I started showing respect, integrity, dependability and honesty -- and there is no difference between you and I. Trust me on this.

The major factor everyone in debt faces is: Fear!

What we ‘fear’ we have called into our lives and so our concentration should be to take responsibility and resolve our problems.

When you walk through your fear no matter how bad, you feel a huge sense of accomplishment and by the same token you might be scared to meet with your creditors. My advice is, take the first step, go with confidence and for sure when you walk into any room oozing confidence and positivity, then people can feel it and the situation will turn for you.

The greatest step to starting to recover from a debt-crisis is to first take responsibility for yourself, your own actions, change your daily practices, start rebuilding your own inner self and once you achieve this stage, you are ready to plan your debt situation. You will start feeling better about yourself. Then that is a good sign, because it means you feel stronger; you have some of your power back and are ready for the challenge.

Recovering from a debt crisis is not easy, it takes a huge load of sacrifices; maybe a few years. However, once you emerge debt-free, you would be thankful for affording yourself the opportunity to take the responsibility and you will know how best to respect money, more than you ever knew before - when you maybe took money for granted.

This journey teaches us huge lessons of respect in all facets of life and it is the reason I am reaching out to you because I know there are many suffering in silence, oblivious that ‘someone else has the same story’. You will be amazed just how many people do.

I know people do not like to speak about debt; they don’t want others to know and fear shame and embarrassment.

Nobody is immune to facing a debt-crisis, because it does not distinguish. However, it arrives to teach us a lesson and today, you need to take that lesson in your stride as you don’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life -- there is always a way.

Don’t get me wrong, debt is not bad, sometimes we need credit facilities; however we need to be able to maintain them respectfully.

[Theda Muller, a UAE resident, has written two books: Embrace Financial Freedom Volume One: 10 Proven Ways To Release Debt And Emotional Fears In Today’s Economy, and Volume Two: Releasing Fear And Bouncing Back From A Debt Crisis. She also conducts webinars on debt recovery]


 

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