Its dumb and dumber to allow the banks to get their hooks into you.
I havent had a credit card since 1981.
You can practice to live without credit.
It may not be a short road... but you can get there.

The worlds final economy, the Bible tells, us is a mark/microchip on the right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16-18).
The Bible also tells us that we are not to take this mark/microchip because it aligns us with the satan puppet, the coming Antichrist (Revelation 14:9-11).

They have been quietly trial-running this 'buying and selling mark' for sometime and the system is just over the horizon.
Many christians are already preparing for a resistance.
We aint taking it no way, because The Lord says not too.

Bazz “Letters of credit are just a guaranteed promise to pay are they not,
and do not necessarily have an interest component.”

LoC are not provided by banks for “free”. LoC carry a commission charge, essentially a charge for
A providing the service and costs of administration
B costs for the advance of sufficient funds to cover the interest charges for the time needed to negotiate (facilitate) and execute the transaction.
A LoC may be for immediate settlement or with a term delay. On a term delay the recipient can cash the LoC immediately, for a commission (interest equivalent). One way or the other, interest will always be included.

“How do you find the money to pay interest if there is no growth ?”

The processes and systems of business are in a state of continual flux. Whilst some are declining, others are expanding.

Regardless of “growth” or” decline”, the banking system is “transaction” based, just the same as stock brokers. Share brokers charge commission on the trades, regardless of the realized value of the transaction, same too banks. In any dynamic market, the value of individual transactions are likely to increase or decrease as much as the number of transactions.

“The financial world will have to do a rethink on how business is
conducted when we have zero growth.”

Based on past performance, they would seem to be up to that challenge.

Normally I use debit cards. I have credit cards with very high limits as I'm building a house (owner builder) and need to make large purchases for materials while constructing. My card is paid in full each month. It's usually not possible to rent a car without a credit card. I consider credit cards to be essential but I know how to manage mine. When making purchases with credit card, remember, the bank is not giving you the money, you do have to pay it back.

When getting finance for buying a house or car or whatever else, carefully work out a budget. Most people borrow the maximum they can for a home and then realise that they can't afford it. My advise is when saving for a home, save the amount of the repayment (less any rent you are currently paying), plus an amount ot cover rates and insurance. If you can save this amount for 6 - 12 months then you will find that having a mortgage is not so great a burden. Also, buy a house within your means. Your first home may have to be a modest 2 or 3 bedroom fibro house in a not so popular suburb. You can always upgrade later.

Belly'"Arjay is chasing a phantom that never existed." It was a US think tank that came up with the idea of a North American Union and the Amero.Have you actually researched it Belly?There are many credible US commentators,one from CNN who have a lot of inside information,who are being vilified for speaking the truth.Bush was quizzed on it's existence and did not comfirm or deny plans for it's implementation.He just stated that there was a vast difference between reality and what people think might happen.Why this equivocation?Just confirm or deny the reality.Even Ron Paul a well respected US congress man knows of this proposal.

So don't espouse things about which you have no knowledge.Do some research first.Obama on the news tonight has declared that he must make a drastic decision soon.I think it will be about the Amero and the North American Union.He will turn out to be just a another toady boy for the US corporates.He will betray the US public just like George Bush.

I am rather chuffed, is it spelled that way? Col has let his dislike of me run riot here.
Thanks Col no offense taken.
See I measure my self by both my Friends and my not Friends.
The sky may not be falling, but you in giving history of dreadful frauds and failures underline my concerns, we must consider how we use credit.
Well aware of each of you stated failures and crimes , many more exist , I wonder why a bankrupt worker is treated more harshly than say John Howard's brother was.
No credit no economy, simple as that we produce every thing using credit.

Belly,
Credit is like a gun it is a tool it can be used to protect or it can be used to rob.
Credit per se is neither good nor bad the defining factor is how it’s used or abused.
In the computer game there was an old expression “to err is human but to really screw up you need a computer”. One could paraphrase in context to say “to steal is human but to steal in a big way you need a corporation.”

The problem isn’t with credit it is with the ethos of corporate thinking and the way it’s administered. By that I go beyond the thinking of Col and his let the market run unhindered mantra. Firstly because unfettered markets can’t exist.
The nearest to a free market we have gotten is that of derivatives…and that hasn’t ended well.

Capitalism has at its base one fatal flaw it assumes that people will act in both their interests and the interest of the whole via the silent hand. Unfortunately they don’t companies/individuals abuse their power and seek to distort the market place.
There are numerous examples of this predatory/perverting behaviour. Consider the US military industrial complex. There are those e.g. Halliburton who lie and cheat the taxpayer. There are those who make munitions for wars that don’t exist and consequently get the government to create ‘aid (sic) deals’ for unstable governments to gain horrific weapons rather than food/health technology.

Then there are those who aggressively push credit as a panacea for everything to the people who can’t afford it playing on their ignorance and inability.

In the final analysis I think that faceless companies/corporation and those who control them that are at fault simply because they can hide from their culpability.
Enron is a clear example here. Much to the disgust of Col and his ilk the truth is people can’t be trusted and therefore regulation IS required.