Is credit card debt affecting you? Many young people often get so excited getting their first credit card but fail to realize they need to pay this money back. The best thing one can do is make regular monthly payments on credit cards to keep their credit rating in good standing. What happens a lot of the time is a lot of young adults get wrapped up with too many credit cards and often are unable to pay all their monthly payments. This has happened to me when I was young and I speak from experience. Financial hardship can affect us all at one time or another.

When I was in my 20′s I use to be able to get what ever I wanted. If I applied for a credit card I got it, a bank loan, I got it, a new car, I got it. Whatever I wanted I was able to do it. Your credit score is what determines what risk you are for lenders. I know they use to increase my credit limit every few months sometimes by a $1000 – $2000.  My credit score was excellent as I was working two jobs, I had a good income and then it finally caught up to me. I felt overwhelmed with debt and had to get a consolidation loan. This helped me get back on track but often times some people don’t fix their financial problems quick enough and are left with unpaid debt, credit collection agencies calling everyday and it takes a toll on people. People need to deal with their bad credit card debt or it will haunt you for up to 6 years or more with a bad credit report.

Dealing with bad debt such as credit cards is your first step to getting your life back on track. Many people often ask, ” Is it true that any bad debt on my credit report is removed after 6 years?” The answer is, “Yes”. Any bad debt that is on your credit report will stay on there for 6 years. After 6 years it is then removed off your credit report. Any written off debt from the last day of activity is removed. The best thing to do is to try and pay off any debts you have. If you don’t it will take 6 years just to get them removed off credit report and then who knows how long it will take for your credit score to go back up. You will need to rebuild your credit in order to be able to do the many joys in life we want to do. For the people who don’t care about their credit you will someday when you go and try and get a mortgage for your growing family, a credit card or a new car only to be turned down. Your credit problems in the past will be your current credit problems today. The only good news for some people with poor credit is that after 6 years your bad debt is removed.

Have you ever had bad debts, credit card problems? How did you deal with a poor credit score and how did it make you feel? How many of you have had credit problems in the past?

Not to long ago from a friend of mine working at Spencer’s Nursing Home in Moncton told me about how their union was literally stealing money out of their pockets every pay. Sometimes unions can be good to have an other times not so much. I guess they have what they call a slush fund and every pay for a full year $4.00 was taken off of every employees pay check without their authorization. At about 200 employees your looking at $19,200 for the year.

Any money being deducted off an employees pay check requires proper authorization in order to do so. For one full year this has gone on until management changed it on their paycheck one pay that read ” Slush Fund $4.00. Everyone one was like what the @#$$ is this? When employees approached payroll they said this has been coming off their pay for over a year and they legally have to show it seperately on their pay. Employees were furious as this money was being literally stolen from them and to top it off it’s was the employees money being used for liquor for parties the president of the union and union reps would have.

From the stories I’ve heard I think it’s time the employees give the President of the union the boot. The actions and unethical behaviours exhibited by him and his union reps has gone on long enough. Since this issue their was a form being passed around asking for their authorization for the deduction. It makes you think, they were caught and now they are doing this. How many more things that they’ve done that they don’t know about? It’s time for change!

What about you? Is your union stealing money out of your pocket? Tell us some union horror stories that you’ve heard or gone through.

What do you all think? Should tipping be really programmed in Interac Machines? That is literally asking people if they want to leave a tip when tipping is a gesture of appreciation and act of giving. I know what some will say is that we live in a debit card, and credit card world. We all use plastic in today’s world but if you think about it we all have some cash on them if we really look. Especially women, maybe not so much for the men but women have purses that carry everything in it. I’m sure people can find money for a tip to leave if they choose.

Another suggestion on that defence of why Interac Machines are programmed to ask if they want to leave a tip there should be a button on their cash register for tips that customers want to leave. If people truly want to leave a tip they will ask is there a place where I can leave a tip. Then they can punch it in manually and how much included with the bill when customers pay by debit card. I know it’s easier to have it programmed in the Interac Machines itself but tipping should never be asked and that’s what is being done by having it on their Interac Machines at Restaurants.

If you really want to get technical about it when we all pay at restaurants using a credit cards their is a spot on your slip saying tip and then you can write in what you want to leave for one. Yet again we are being asked to leave a tip by asking and bringing it to our attention in the form of writing making some people feel obligated to leave one. I am not saying at all don’t leave tips at restaurants as I do and its ethical to do so but I am just bringing aware that we are now being asked discreetly and a form of soliciting through writing and now through Interac Machines. Tipping should be left up to the customer and their should be no influence or reminder for us to leave a tip as yet again it’s an act of giving and it’s not required to do so. Myself I would leave a tip regardless if they removed it from their Interac Machines and their credit card slips. I always have some cash on me, and at least it would be my own gesture instead of it almost being implied that I need to leave a tip.

What do you think? Should they really be asking us if we really want to leave a tip on those Interac Machines? What about the credit card slips? Lets hear your thoughts?

Lets look up the definition of tipping from Wikipedia:

A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the patron being served, in some circumstances failing to give an adequate tip when one is expected may be considered very miserly, a violation of etiquette, or unethical. In some other cultures or situations, giving a tip is not expected and offering one would be considered condescending or demeaning. In some circumstances (such as tipping government workers), tipping is illegal.

Now that we have that all cleared up, tipping someone is voluntary and not required. When should we tip someone really? In my opinion tipping someone should be when we are sitting inside a restaurant and they are serving us or catering to our needs, then yes a tip would be ethical. But in today’s world you have Tim Hortons asking for tips, Pizza shops when you go for take out, Dairy Queen and have seen a few Subways. What’s next? Some even have it programmed right into their Interac Machines asking if we want to give a tip. I’ve even been asked where’s my tip on 2 separate occasions, one picking up Chinese Food at a restaurant to go and one time at a bar. I find that very rude when people actually say , “where’s my tip?” Pretty soon we’ll be asked for a tip when going to buy our groceries just for a cashier to ring them through. Some of you may know what I am talking about. I tip when I want to tip at some of these above locations as mentioned, I always tip 20-25% of the bill or slightly more whenever our family goes inside to eat at a real restaurant when the recommended tip people leave is 15%. Next we’ll be asked for tipping at McDonalds too.

Where should we be tipping? Should we actually be tipping people at Tim Hortons for simply doing their job? You can if you want but if you don’t I’ve seen many circumstances where the employees attitude changes as the EXPECT a tip now. They are basically programmed to receive one and if you don’t you see it in their face. Here’s a tip from me to you, go to a couple of Tim Hortons and buy the exact same thing, you may notice that your cost will be different. I have went to the Tim Hortons in Shediac two days in a row, buy the exact same thing and the cost was different. Yes, maybe she rang it in wrong but I got what I had ordered. Some people, and nothing against the establishment take their own tips by telling the customer a different cost. We as consumers don’t even think most of the time and just pay what they ask if it sounds reasonable. If she came back and said that would be $20 for your coffee then sure we would say that’s wrong but if the employee adds 10 cents, will you really know the difference? You may if you only buy a coffee but if you buy several things you won’t think twice. Just something for you to think about.

One other last comment I have about tipping people at restaurants. Tipping should be done on a voluntary basis and never asked, or suggested. I believe that all restaurants should take down the TIP JARS, saying “Leave a Tip” that is soliciting and no different then asking. I also don’t think they should really have it on their Interac machines either ” Leave A Tip?” They are literally asking for one! That is something I don’t agree with.

So bottom line, do you get annoyed seeing tip jars everywhere? Do you actually think that at Tim Hortons you should leave tips? Where do we draw the line on tipping people. In my opinion we should only tip people if we are sitting inside a restaurant where they are catering to our needs, then a tip is ethical but not required. What do you think and where should we draw the line at tipping people? Whose going to want tips next? Should we really be tipping people at drive-throughs? Money, money, money! It’s all about the money! Let’s hear your thoughts on when and where we should be leaving tips?

The Judge Irwin Lampert sentenced this Tina Steeves to 4 years in prisonafter 2 years was wanted for this case but he didn’t think it was adequate. I am glad he doubled it as I think of the parents who lost everything as they believed their daughter and was trying to protect her. Everything they ever worked for was lost! My wife and I talked about this and we are still in shock and moved by this story as much as everyone else I;m sure. Supposedly this fraud went on for more then 2 years but that’s a lot of money for a drug addiction. Tina Steeves was addicted to hydromorphone pills and spent it on that, food and other things.

Hopefully their daughter will learn a lesson but there is nothing that will fix the parents situation now. I feel so bad for them as everything they worked for they sold to protect their daughter from any harm that was supposedly the story. I just don’t understand how your own child can do this to their own. It just goes to show you how strong a drug addiction can do to someone just to get what they need. It’s a very sad story and has touched everyone.

The biggest comment that touched me was when Judge Irwin Lampert said, ” For more then 6 months they ate nothing but potatoes.” They never even had enough money to buy food because of what their daughter did. It makes me so upset how a couple, most likely retired and had everything all worked out but just in 2 years their own child caused life altering changes that will probably never be fixed, not in anytime soon anyway. Very, very sad day and my heart goes out to the parents who were scammed for more the $400k.

This is only one scam where people are defrauded by huge amounts of money. Scams like these go on everyday in the world but you would never think someone so close to you could do that to you! What I hope this story tells other parents to do is watch for warning signs and hopefully this one story can help stop this from happening to others. I know people or business’s can’t get involved with everything and giving money or appliances, but in this case I would hope or I put out a challenge to all local Moncton business’s to come together to help this family in need.

This is a very sad story and I hope that something can be done to help a little and show that Moncton cares over this very heart felt story! There should be a donation set up just to help get them back on their feet. I’m sure anything they receive whether it be furniture or small cash donations would be something and much appreciated. What do you think Moncton? Christmas in around the corner, I think it should come early for this couple, how about yourself?