Horror stories in the world of finance are nothing new. Whether it’s surrounded by a bad real estate deal, being sued by someone, harassment from the IRS over taxes or almost anything else you can think of, things aren’t destined to end very well. Even taking strong precautions against negative situations and being smart with your money can’t keep you safe from each and every possibility out there. Even if you’re not some high-powered executive or someone making six figures a year, there are everyday financial horror stories that can take place right before your own eyes. Do you want to stay in the know about the different things that can haunt your finances? Keep following along for more information about those frightening things that can haunt your finances and leave you stuck cleaning up the mess.
The Worst of the Worst
Identity thieves are among the worst kinds of criminals out there. Identity theft is one of those things that can haunt your finances simply because it can go on so long without being detected, especially if you’re not privy to checking in on your credit score periodically. The most harmful damage can be done long before you even find out what’s been going on. All different kinds of information is easy to acquire now, and the opportunity for someone to steal your personal details is simpler now than it ever has been in the past. With your Social Security number, a con artist can do more damage in a month’s time than you might believe you could do in a year or two. Anything that ties into your finances can be wrecked: they can divert your mail, put credit cards in your name, and take out loans as they please or whatever else tickles their fancy at the moment. Sometimes, a thief can piece together your financial standings from things you throw away with the garbage, like account numbers and addresses.
- If you make it a point to contact your credit agencies and banks, you can have much of the damaged reversed, but that doesn’t mean the process will be painless. In most instances, you might have to provide multiple affidavits about the fraud that took place and you’ll likely be making frequent phone calls to different agencies and departments to get to the bottom of it all.
- Disputing your credit report can be exhausting, and you can become prey once again for companies promising credit repair that are more interested in up charging you than they are in actually helping you out of a bad situation. You also have to keep up with your credit report once you have it rectified to avoid further damages from the unknown blood sucker.
Vacation Nightmares
A nice getaway is supposed to bring about feelings of peace and relaxation, but going away abroad on the slight chance that you don’t have insurance can turn out to be a nightmare of a vacation. If you were to slip and fall or injure yourself badly while on vacation abroad without travel insurance, you might come face to face with things that can haunt your finances. From something as annoying as nursing a broken wrist or ankle instead of enjoying yourself, or having to spend money on medical costs you couldn’t foresee coming into play, there a more than a few good reasons to invest in travel insurance.
Disaster on the Home front
Terrible things happen even more often when you’re at home than they do abroad and when an accident occurs while you’re uninsured, you might find yourself feeling like a fish out of water. Inadequate medical insurance or lack of benefits at all are some of the top things that can haunt your finances. There are some cases where insurance wouldn’t have helped or a person wasn’t eligible in the first place, but more often than not a lack of knowledge about your insurance coverage and what you truly need to be safe in all situations is the case of chaos.
Stay in the know about changes that occur surrounding your medical coverage and insurance policies. These things that can haunt your finances are liable to change at any time and you need the most up to date information to protect yourself at all times.
Debt Is the Biggest Downfall
If you ever have or currently do live paycheck to paycheck, you know that this uncertainty alone can become too much to bear. More people in this day and age are trying to hold off an avalanche of debt that could trap them indefinitely. Huge debt payments eat away at your disposable income and leave you feel vulnerable and these things can haunt your finances. When things get too intense to handle, one might have to surrender all their credit cards or worse, like filing for bankruptcy.
It can be hard to come to terms with the fact that most of these situations are self-imposed, but if you work hard and bite the bullet, you can come out standing on the other side.