my husband and I have ‘acquired’
roughly $5k in credit card debt…we make more than the minimum payments, montly…but we try to stick with our 10% tithing, weekly, for our parish. Should we pay off our credit cards first, and decrease our weekly tithing? Of course the ideal would be to do both–but we are also saving to move to Florida, SO…my husband thinks that we should make higher payments to the creditors, because God speaks of paying our debtors in the Bible, as being significant. I also know that if I lowered our tithing, we would probably pay off our debt much quicker–that is for sure.
Now, we should avoid getting into debt…but once you’ve accumulated some, where should the balance of your monthly income go? (as in prioritizing)
So–which is the smarter/moral route? I look forward to your replies.
Ah yes. Money; there is a reason some wag said that money is the root of all evils… and there is also a tremendous abmount of truth in the statistics that show money as being a leading cause of divorce, if not the leading cause.
I would consider several things, some of which ahve already been pointed out.
- The Church does not require tithing, which comes from the Mosaic law. Rather, it requires that we give generously and responsibly. Those are two hard words, perhaps much harder than something as simple as tithing, as they require responsiblity not just to the Church bu in our whole financial being, and generosity is extended in other areas also.
- Many, if not most credit cards now carry rates that border on usury, if not well beyond that. 15%, 20%, or 25% are not at all unusual, and it is amazing how many people have no understanding of what that actually means. And further, they have no true idea how that plays out over time.
Much, but not all that is put on credit cards is based on want, not need. Oh, the kids need clothes, we need a new set of pots and pans, we need a vacation… But in using credit that will not be paid off in a short period of time, we are spending way more for those clothes, pots and pans, vacations, or whatever, than we ever realized, because we have become used to a bill coming and paying something on it, and then repeating the cycle by adding a new debt to the one not yet paid off.
I am no math whiz, but I ran a few simple calculations on $5000, assuming a simple 15% per year (the credit cards will charge more). If you could maintain the discipline to add nothing whatsoever to this card, and paid $250/month on it, it would take you about 25 months - that is, until about April of 2009 to pay it off, and you would have paid them almost $800 in interest. And that is simple interest, absolutely no more adding to the bill, and $250 every month. Make it compound interest and it is even more.
Yes, God is generous, but I believe that God also expects one to use common sense. Using a credit card and not paying it off each month for what we most often could wait to purchase until we had collected the money is not… That is simply giving into materialism.
- As noted by others, part of our giving to the Church is in time that we give. It may sound cold-blooded, but the work that we do has a monetary value if we are teaching a class, or cooking a meal, or stuffing an envelope for mass-mailing. Getting your personal finances in proper shape will allow you to determine what you may wish to give to the Church; but right now you are contributing mightly to a bank. It may only be $30, or $65, or $85 a month you are paying the bank for interest charges (look at your statement as to how much you paid last month in interest), but that could be going to the Church or another organization - or to something you may wish to purchase - for cash - if you weren’t paying it to the bank. Your call.
Just my opinion, but those who say that you need to trust God may not be very responsible financial advisors. You have yourself in a financial hole; it may be that it was necessities that you get there and not purchases of what you wanted. No matter how you got to this position, it is necessary that you get out of there if you truly want to be responsible financially.
You don’t need to go to a financial counselor; you could talk with a CPA in your parish. I would suggest that you sit down with your spouse and take a long, hard, honest look at both income and expenses, spending habits, and future financial needs (not wants) and start making some changes. You have already gotten to the point of asking if what you are doing makes sense. Now go further!
