Signs that you may be over-indebted

Cape Town - It happens so easily: you have a bit of a crisis and before that is paid off, you have another one. Next thing you’re knee-deep in debt.

If you cannot service your debt on time, and still foot the bill for life’s necessities, despite lowering your standard of living, you are considered to be over-indebted.

Here are some sure signs that you’re treading on dangerous ground as far as your finances are concerned:

* You skip payments on certain accounts in order to pay others;
* You borrow money from friend and family to pay other debts;
* You avoid people you owe money;
* You can hardly ever make all of your payments at the end of the month;
* If you didn’t get a salary for even one month, you would be in serious financial trouble;
* Another bank offers you a credit card and you take it, because the one you have is maxed out;
* Your bank has rejected a debit order in the past three months, because there were insufficient funds in your bank account;
* Your debit or credit card often gets refused at till points or you cannot draw money at the ATM;
* You are considering debt consolidation;
* You receive SMSs and calls reminding you of overdue payments;
* You receive letters and summonses from creditors and/or attorneys;
* You owe much more than you own (although many young people start off that way);
* Your spending, including what you have to spend to repay debt, is more than your income;
* You have judgments granted against you;
* You are so stressed because of your debt situation that you often get ill and miss work.

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