Hey there, I’m Nayla and I am a friend of Kim’s. She told me she was posting to this blog and after checking it out, I totally wanted to contribute too! I also joined my credit union recently and was really glad I did… I am fascinated by money, how it works and finding ways to get smarter about it. In fact, here is something that I thought was super interesting…
I saw a poll that said that 72% of Americans* think debt is a part of everyday life and that it’s difficult to avoid. This made me think about debt and how it even became such a big part of people’s lives in the first place.
I was surprised to find out that debt has been around for hundreds of years… in fact, it has been around almost as long as money! And did you know that loans in America were only reserved for the rich upper class until 1928? Everybody else had to go to a loan shark or a pawn shop (and yeah, those were as bad as they sound!) It was during the Great Depression, that the working class was finally able to get a loan for a house or a car. But it wasn’t even until the 1950’s that the credit card was introduced!
It was pretty cool to learn something new about money, especially about things so common, we don’t even think twice about it! So let this give you something to think on when you go for your credit card, car loan or school loan. All I can say is I am glad I can walk in to the credit union and bypass the loan shark!
*www.bankrate.com
Nayla
Awesome Nayla. You crack me up! I don't wanna deal with a loan shark either!
Posted by: Kim | January 30, 2009 at 03:11 PM