{"id":2846,"date":"2015-06-12T15:50:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T19:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/?p=2846"},"modified":"2021-09-30T11:10:13","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T15:10:13","slug":"the-7-stages-of-credit-card-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/the-7-stages-of-credit-card-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Stages of Credit Card Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2847 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt-e1434138574950.png\" alt=\"7 Stages of Credit Card Debt\" width=\"795\" height=\"3313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt-e1434138574950.png 795w, https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt-e1434138574950-72x300.png 72w, https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt-e1434138574950-768x3200.png 768w, https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/7-Stages-of-Credit-Card-Debt-e1434138574950-246x1024.png 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ve undoubtedly heard of the famous &#8220;7 stages of grief&#8221;, which helps those who&#8217;ve been through an ordeal or a loss identify where they are in recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, these 7 stages can also be <a href=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/debt-collection-101\/\">applied to debt management<\/a> and the emotions and thoughts one might have while under it&#8217;s pressures.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve put together a <a href=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/payday-loans-truth\/\">handy infographic<\/a> to help you navigate through the experiences of credit card debt management specifically. Whether you&#8217;re in the denial phase or you&#8217;re nearing the end and seeing hope on the horizon, know that everyone will hover in each of these stages at some point and for completely customized lengths of time.<\/p>\n<p>Just remember &#8211; it&#8217;s going to be alright.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 1 &#8211; DENIAL<\/h3>\n<p>This is your debt awareness &#8220;honeymoon period&#8221;. Why worry, right? You only bought a new T.V (even though your current one works just fine) and your card has a great interest rate. You&#8217;ll pay it off in no time, you tell yourself. Too bad it doesn&#8217;t work that way. How do you know if you&#8217;ve been in this period for too long? Three words: debt collectors calling.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 2 &#8211; ANGER<\/h3>\n<p>You&#8217;re angry you let yourself buy that thing you didn&#8217;t need.<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re angry that some emergency came up that is going to cost you money.<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re angry you didn&#8217;t set a better budget for yourself.<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re angry you&#8217;re behind on your payment schedule &#8211; and that you didn&#8217;t stick to your budget.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re just angry, and you&#8217;re probably most angry at yourself. Thing is, anger is a waste of time. Let yourself feel it but make sure you&#8217;re acting at the same time.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 3 &#8211; DEPRESSION<\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;re finding yourself in a bit of trouble financially, it&#8217;s understandable you&#8217;d be depressed about it, especially if you have to cut back in other areas or even make dramatic changes.<br \/>\nEven though it is understandable, watch for behaviours that can loop you back to the &#8220;euphoria&#8221; of Stage 1. Don&#8217;t keep spending to keep the sadness at bay.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re worried that the depression you&#8217;re feeling is more than just situational (as in, it&#8217;s chemical), then seek help immediately.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 4 &#8211; BARGAINING<\/h3>\n<p>This is generally when you want to negotiate&#8230;unreasonably. Don&#8217;t do it! Don&#8217;t make unbalanced sacrifices just because the pressure is on. Ask for help from a financial advisor or a trusted friend to help you see clearly and rationally. Since bargaining is actually a legitimate step in debt management (especially if there are debt collectors involved), make sure you do it right! Don&#8217;t make promises you can&#8217;t keep &#8211; be reasonable with the collectors (and yourself).<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 5 &#8211; ACCEPTANCE<\/h3>\n<p>You made it to a truly important step! Congratulations. Hopefully you&#8217;ve realized that the power is all in your hands to climb out of <a href=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/what-credit-report-errors-should-i-watch-for\/\">your credit card debt<\/a>.<br \/>\nThis is when you&#8217;re willing to start making the sacrifices, because back at stage 2, you were upset about having to make any at all.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re officially on your way to recovery.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 6 &#8211; REBUILD<\/h3>\n<p>Look at that! You stuck to your plan, practiced some serious will power and climbed your way out of your credit card debt.<br \/>\nNow, it&#8217;s the time to rebuild in multiple ways. Rebuild <a href=\"https:\/\/goday.ca\/blog\/ultimate-budgeting-app-list\/\">your original budget<\/a> (so you don&#8217;t fall into this spiral again).<br \/>\nRebuild your long term financial goals (having something big to look forward to will keep you on track when things are tempting). Rebuild your credit, if you have to.<\/p>\n<p>You can do it.<\/p>\n<h3>STAGE 7 &#8211; HOPE<\/h3>\n<p>This is the time of growth, both financially &amp; mentally. You won&#8217;t fall back into the same patterns. You&#8217;ll stick to your budget. And you&#8217;ll hope that if temptation rings again, that you&#8217;ll be ready for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ve undoubtedly heard of the famous &#8220;7 stages of grief&#8221;, which helps those who&#8217;ve been through an ordeal or a loss identify where they are in recovery. Interestingly, these 7 stages can also be applied to debt management and the emotions and thoughts one might have while under it&#8217;s pressures. We&#8217;ve put together a handy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.5 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>7 Stages of Credit Card Debt<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You&#039;re familiar with the 7 Stages of Grief, right? 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