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Most people in America have been hurt to some degree by the current credit crisis. Many of us are feeling betrayed, from individuals watching credit card companies jack up their interest rates for no good reason, to small businesses who rely on available credit to finance their inventory until it is sold.

As Americans, we have gotten into the bad habit of living well beyond our means. We have been seduced by easy credit. Can’t afford something? No big deal just put it on the trusty credit card at a measly 9% interest. Oh no, we accidentally posted your payment one day late, so NOW, you are going to have to pay the default rate of 29%! Want that $350,000 house, but only bring in $55,000 per year? That’s no problem; we have the perfect mortgage just for you today.

Then “POP” goes that inimitable bubble. Where’s that silver lining, you ask?

There is a ways to go, but those of us caught up in the burst bubble are finding it necessary to re-prioritize our spending and look for ways to pay off our current debt without incurring any more. Here is the silver lining in all this pain. Once we straighten our finances and become solvent again, which can possible take us several years, we will be in a much stronger financial condition. Also, we will have the hard lessons learned from these years of taking control of our finances to go forward with wisdom into our later years. We will use credit more wisely and be more wary of the excesses of debt. We will know how to spot the convoluted mortgage and only consider the more conventional fixed-rate loans that have a proven track record to ride out the difficult financial times.

We will have to work hard to pay off, or pay down our current debt and to bring our debt to income ratio down to a much more manageable level. However, with hard work and sacrifice we can do it. We just may have to put off buying that shiny new car for a couple more years, or trade off that Caribbean vacation for something closer to home, or wait to pay cash for an item instead of putting more onto the credit cards, but in the end, the payoff will be well worth it.

Our silver lining is that once we survive by fighting and clawing our way back to solvency, we will be much stronger financially for having fought the good battle.

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