Is a Payment Holiday a Holiday?

I very nearly didn’t post today.  I’m feeling a little snowed under with projects, and I found myself thinking, “I could just have a little holiday from posting…”.

This started me thinking about the whole concept of holidays and what we were escaping from.

Take, for example, the term “Payment Holiday”, which seems to be bandied around in certain secured loan and credit card circles.  The idea is, of course, that you set up a consolidation loan and then the new company gives you a little while off from repaying your debt to just … get on top of things.  Is this really what happens, I wonder?  Maybe it is my cynical side, but I imagine really happens is that Fred and Freda Indebt consolidate their loans, feel good about themselves and when faced with a chunk of unexpected money, decide to treat themselves to a little “reward” for getting things straight.   Maybe a new car.  Or redecorating the house.  Or a little city break somewhere…  They’ll get used to having a little extra money for a couple of months, and boyohboy will it hurt when the new payments kick in.  Maybe it will hurt enough to take out a little extra money on that consolidation loan…

Can’t you just see it?

I guess that deep down, I don’t think I deserve a holiday from my debt.  I need to work as hard as I can to get it paid back, whether that means posting here every day (with the nice side-effect of motivating me into action), or just getting down and dirty with the debt repayments every month.   It has to be done, and just like my son with his homework – it won’t get any easier if I put it off any longer.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that I can’t have the occasional little luxury whilst I’m working on the matter in hand, and it doesn’t mean that I can’t plan an absolute *doozy* of a holiday for when I reach a good, solid target.