In American society, we’ve always been taught that bigger is better. From luxury mansions to high-end SUVs, we in this country like our things to be bigger and more extravagant than everything else. Unfortunately, many people who want these bigger and therefore “better” things don’t always understand that these things can put a huge strain on their finances. These are the kinds of things that can put someone deeply into debt, debt that can be made much worse by excessively large loans.
Just about anybody would tell you that the key to achieving good financial health is to reduce debt, yet they go ahead and borrow large amounts of money to feed their spending habits. While there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting nice things or taking out a loan when necessary, the real key to being responsible lies in prioritization. In other words, people should ask themselves whether making a major purchase is worth going into debt.
The “bigger is better” mentality is one of the primary reasons why Americans tend to borrow a lot of money. Simply put, they strive so hard to have the best of everything, even when they can’t afford it without acquiring a mountain of debt. This is often cited as the reason for problems such as the housing market crash of 2008. While banks and payday loan services can certainly take some of the blame for the country’s debt problems, but personal responsibility should come into play. Far too many people take out loans with the intention of paying them back in the future when they should be making plans to pay them back almost immediately.
Payday loan lenders try to lessen the problems associated with taking out excessive loans by lending money based on a person’s income. If a borrower doesn’t make enough money to pay off a short-term loan, then no loan is given out. This is meant to keep borrowers from borrowing more money than what can realistically be paid back while keeping interest and fees to a minimum.
Payday loan lenders know that debt can cause a lot of problems for a borrower, so many of them try to make things easier for borrowers by not lending over $1,000 at a time. Some who adhere too closely to our “bigger is better” mentality may think such small loans are inconvenient, but they are actually intended to protect the borrowers from further financial difficulty. The loans themselves are also investments made by lenders, investments that they must protect if they are to stay in business since loans that aren’t paid back may as well be written off as lost revenue.
Although our country maintains a “bigger is better” philosophy, bigger is most definitely not better when it comes to loans and debt. Far too many people borrow more money than they can pay back just so they can have all the things they want. Realizing that bigger isn’t always better is the best way for people to keep from over-borrowing and going too deeply into debt.
