Russia and Credit Cards

Oi, this has been my headache for the last couple of days. I found out that my parents have more credit cards that I have ever had and that their credit card loans are bigger than both of my credit cards' limits. Granted, my credit cards don't have very high limits, but still. It's been pretty hard to wrap my mind about how much they owe and trying to figure out a plan of action. The last 2 days I have been doing nothing but talking to my folks, going to what seemed like a dozen of banks, working with Excel trying to figure all the stuff out, and then talking to my folks again. My head hurts, but I am thankful that I am here to help them, I am thankful that they opened up to me regarding their debt, and I am thankful that I have a sister and my husband by my side who are giving me strength and support to deal with this. For those who don't know, I have a very soft spot for my parents, I am the worst person to tell them 'no' and the last couple of days have been tough for me as I have to be pretty hard on my parents. But it also felt good to sit down with my parents, explain to them what the interest rate is...how much money they are just throwing away by paying interest, what minimum payment is and what happens when you pay less than it or even just minimum payment, what happens when you are late paying the credit card bill. Don't take me wrong, they are not stupid, they just grew up during communism and the whole idea of credit cards is very foreign to them, they simply did not know what questions to even begin to ask the banks when they applied for credit cards, and the banks don't volunteer much information. I had to read the contracts with the banks and the fine print to figure out what are the terms, something not all people do even in the states, let alone Russia.

But here is something that just struck me, my parents are far from being the only people who are in the same position. My parents' neighbor just came in to see my mom, they chat quite often during the week, and she started asking my mom all kinds of questions about the credit card that she (the neighbor) has, and my mom just sent the gal into my room. That is when it struck me that the questions she is asking are the same that my parents did not understand: "why is it that I am paying my payments and it never seems to go away" "what is this 28% mean" (annual interest rate), "how can i pay it off" "i think they charge me for something else, but i don't understand what" I mean even the neighbor, who is a woman in her early 40's and owns her own small business did not understand that you can go to the bank and ask them to provide for a detailed list of all the transaction. She did not know that she is paying 28% annually for her debt, she does not understand that she has minimum payment and that she is being charged most likely some ridiculous amount for paying less than minimum payment.

I feel rather sorry for people in Russia, older people in Russia, who grew up during communism, who watch TV and believe everything they hear, because they are vulnerable and are taken advantage of by the banks. They think that credit cards are just an easy money that all of a sudden is available to them, but they don't realize all the hidden agendas of the banks, that aren't all that hidden if you know how to ask the questions and what questions to ask. But I must admit, the situation in Russia reminds me of the situation in the states a few years back, when people were allowed to go into debt beyond their ears. I love my parents, they there is no way they should qualify for any credit above 15,000 and what they have is well beyond that. I wish they only had 15,000 rubles of debt in credit cards.

It makes me feel like I should set up an advisory firm here and advise people on their credit card debt and how to get out of it, because most people are just clueless and really have no clue what to do and how to get out of all the mess they got themselves into. I feel like banks should be punished, they clearly prey on people, the banks don't give full information to people when the latter come to get a loan.

Anyway, it breaks my heart to see my parents in the situation they are in, and it really breaks my hear to be tough with them and tell them what needs to be done and that it's not going to be pretty. I hope that they will understand that I do this because I love them! But I feel for so many other people in this country, who don't have daughters to help them, to dig deep into the debts people got themselves into, to explain what they did, to work on the plan of action, to help them financially to a point to get themselves out of the rut.

My return home has been a blessing! Really!!! Truly!!! I am glad I found out now what is going on with my parents' financial situation, and I am glad that I am here for them, and it's nice to have dinner together with them every night! I missed them more than I thought I had, although they still drive me nuts sometimes. But this visit home has been very different from what I have expected it to be. Please say a prayer for me to be strong and tough with them and that God will give me enough brain power to figure out how to fix this whole situation.