Debtors Anonymous offering a ray of hope to all compulsive debtors. Today, there is no denying the fact that our society is consumerist and market-driven. There are thousands of products and services in the market that are not essential for our survival or general well-being but still can provide us lots of comfort and enjoyment. Lured by amazing marketing strategies, we want to consume more and more products and services.
Naturally, our income may not be able to support our wants, which may or may not be our real needs in the first place. But we want to satisfy all our wants. To exploit this tendency of todays humans, numerous banks and financial companies are all too eager to provide us loans at seemingly most favorable terms. To make matters worse, credit cards have made spending all too easy. All these things are all too apparent in todays world to merit any further elaboration. Suffice to say, todays society provides ample avenues to each and every person to take more and more debt. And before a person can realize, he or she turns into a compulsive debtor. Once in the debt trap, a person finds it very difficult, almost a Herculean task, to come out of it. Before they can do anything to get out of the debt trap, a grim realization dawns on these compulsive debtors that its not just their debt and finances that has become unmanageable, its their life that has become unmanageable due to overspending, compulsive debting and credit card debt. The life of such compulsive debtors becomes an unending cycle of payment of late fees, bouncing checks and creditors knocking at their doors.
To help all such person all over the world, a fellowship of men and women is constantly striving, and they call themselves Debtors Anonymous (D.A.).
What exactly is this Debtors Anonymous
To understand this fellowship better, let us study its preamble. The preamble of Debtors Anonymous (DA) clearly states that it is a fellowship of men and women who share their experiences, their hopes and their efforts with each other believing that this can help solve their common problem of compulsive debting, and they can also help others to recover from this problem. To become a member of DA, no dues and no membership fee is to be paid. You only need to have a burning desire to stop incurring unsecured debt. (Unsecured debt is defined as debt not backed up by any collateral, such as home, car or any other asset.) DA is a totally self-supporting effort. It has no relation with any sect, denomination, organization or political party. It never engages in any controversy, it neither endorses nor opposes any causes. The one and only, primary purpose of DA is to help its members stop debting and stop incurring any unsecured debt.
How can anyone say that I am a compulsive debtor
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No one else but only you can decide whether you are a compulsive debtor or not In your heart of hearts, you know very well that you are in a debt trap. Still, to make this realization easier for you, DA offers a long list of signs of compulsive debting
• You are not sure about your own financial condition. You are unclear about your account balances, loan interest rates, fees etc.
• You have made a habit of borrowing small sums of money from family and friends and then you fail to return them.
• You just cannot save. You have no retirement plan, no tax plan, nothing. You believe that the best way to live is live for today, forget about tomorrow.
• You are a compulsive shopper. Just to get a good deal, you buy items you dont even use.
• You find it difficult to meet even basic financial obligations.
• Bouncing checks, credit card debt and a chaotic financial situation is part of your everyday routine.
• You live paycheck to paycheck. In fact, at times you write checks in the belief that money will somehow appear to cover them.
• You find it embarrassing discussing money matters with others.
• You dont value or care for yourself. You feel that some near or dear one will take care of you if you got into really serious financial crisis.
All these are signs that you are a compulsive debtor. In this event, DA is the best place to look for help.
Getting started on the road to recovery with DA.
DA members take the following steps to get over their problem of compulsive debting
• They stop incurring any new unsecured debt. For a compulsive debtor, this is easier said then done, but then, where there is will, there is a way.
• By attending DA meetings regularly, members get a sense of hope and a chance to meet people who can help them.
• Another tool of DA members is to record each and every income and expense item, howsoever small, on a daily basis, in a notebook or planner.
• DA literature also offers numerous useful suggestions and insights. In fact, DAs latest book
A Currency of Hope is a must read for anyone facing debt-related problem.
• DA has a Twelve Steps program which all of its members practice.
These Twelve Steps, in correct order, are as follows
1. Admit you are powerless over debt.
2. A firm belief that a greater Power is ready to help you.
3. Decide to take help of God and then turn your life over to His care.
4. Prepare a moral inventory of yourself.
5. Admit your mistakes to God.
6. Firm belief that God can remove all your defects.
7. Pray to God to remove your defects.
8. To all the persons you may have harmed, try and make amends.
9. Where making a direct amend is possible, do it.
10. Whenever you commit any wrong, admit it promptly.
11. Pray and meditate to improve your contact with God.
12. Practice all these principles in all your affairs, and carry this hope to other compulsive debtors.
• Once a DA member has understood these Twelve Steps, he or she takes the help of another DA member who has already carried out these 12 steps. This way every DA member finds a sponsor who can help him or her on the road to recovery.
• All DA members follow the principle of complete anonymity very strictly. What is said or heard in a DA meeting is always kept confidential. This basic principle of Debtors Anonymous allows all the members to speak out openly and honestly, without any fear that whatever they say can be used against them in the future.
• Fact is, anonymity is the spiritual foundation of DA fellowship, always reminding all its members to place principles above personalities.
Thus, it is very clear that Debtors Anonymous is a great place to find help and support if you feel that your debt related problems have become unmanageable.