The sad reality of debt is that many people that find themselves overwhelmed with debt often operate with the same mentality after debt has developed that they used to build debt in the first place. They ignore the practical financial reality that debt is a serious issue and responsible use of debt has very real personal and financial implications. Debt responsibility or lack thereof impacts everyday life in many ways. It affects our ability to obtain financing for new purposes, our quality of life, our activity choices, and much more.

Similar to other conflicts, debt problems get worse if they are not dealt with. If the total amount of debt itself was the only cost, debt management would not be so important. However, the reality is that debt continues to accrue costs the longer it persists. Financing costs are based on the interest rate tied to loans and credit cards and the balances maintained on the loans. If a borrower were to never make a payment on a debt balance, their debt would obviously go up over time.

Some people wonder why efficient and urgent debt repayment is important. It is important for many reasons. Practically speaking, responsible use of debt provides a statement about your ability to manage financing. Your credit rating, based on your ability to use debt responsibly, is used by lenders to determine your worthiness for loans, favorable rates and terms, and more. Thus, ignoring bad debt problems makes it very difficult to ever get good loans and good rates in the future.

There are also very powerful legal reasons to pay debts. County Court Judgments and bankruptcy are two of the more common legal challenges faced when debt is ignored and becomes unmanageable. These extreme results of debt ignorance result in a very low likelihood of the debtor every obtaining reasonable financing again. These legal actions essentially seal the debtor’s financial fate, at least in terms of reliance of creditors.

Ignoring debt can take on a very real appearance when borrowers ignore responsibility with secured debt. Secured debt is a form of debt in which the borrower offers property as collateral in the event of non-repayment of debt. The result of ignoring debt problems with secured loans could be a loss of one’s home or personal property.

Obviously, there are very real consequences to ignoring debt trouble. Borrowers should first avoid taking on too much debt. When it is too late for that, borrowers need to explore debt management options at the first signs of trouble. Options might include cautious debt consolidation, debt help or assistance programs, or other types of debt management.