European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 7, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The by Bob hover staff writer they borrow from Peter to pay they owe every Dick and and still they go on obvious slaves to the age old spell of i loan parlance they Are called credit i the military knows them by their 1 debts dog them wherever they live in a world of repossessed i checks and court orders to embarrassment to friends and an pull to the their business Ulli lately becomes the business of those who Rale and promote for the impulse to spend it Lus uncontrollable As the lure of drink the a 8yearom army specialist blames s financial troubles on the ease of credit d Lus own casual attitude toward i Lake the blame for All my difficult he i never set any value on it didst seem la bother me to run t wanted things and i could gel fam on i never worried about Ting the things he bought Over an Lightyear d included eight cars and three tally he found himself in debt a problem that was solved through the week alter his by he was Able to gel Tew credit attitudes toward instalment living seem to have increased the Poten he for credit i in a Way these problems Are re Flection of the society were living John Kat i Lance lawyer at v corps he la prank now Rind people who make i year carrying a handful credit in or 20 years ago this want in Idle is so easy to higher military by and the aggressive Way credit Compa t iry to push everyone onto the credit j1 contribute to Baldomero first sergeant for the 435th Aerial port Rhel main regards credit As a bigger problem now than 10 years people Are making More Money than in the past and As a result they program themselves base future debt on anticipated promotions and pay raises which have been coming along but they seem to Overlook the fart that everything costs Roy commander of he v cites military pay practices allowing service person Nel to draw up to three months and Vance pay As a Caute of credit drawing Advance pay puts a number of people in the be often the individual taking the pay is borrowing Trou ble for the when he draws up to three months pay in this Means he will have to live on half pay for the next six i think the system should be stopped or at least limited to one solving the problems of credit junkies often results in traumatic personal Strug Gles pitting mind against com Manders lend to see them As errant children whose spendthrift ways diminish their performance of various tactics Are used to gel problem Spenden to Clear up their Mann stresses the Stem As commander of a us member Compa he has a ringside View of bad debt prob hit investigations invariably reveal that Money problems Seldom exist in Isola debt and other problems Are not excl you often find the Man with debt problems has problems at someone who is constantly late to work or has a drinking problem often has a debt prob dealing with debt problems int Many of these people involved Are like Al they have major As their debts but invariably they deny these problems denial and procrastination Are part of the defense mechanism of the problem spender and they usually enlarge prob lems that Are passed on to military attorneys for a lawyer to handle debt cast is impressed by the reluctance of clients to Dii Cusi credit problems until they Are their in at first these people come in and Lay out Only their legitimate says Charles assistant staff judge advocate at Rheu main gradually they admit to other credit and finally come out with the luxury t see cases where individuals have three times As much going out in payments As their take Home often these people Are divorced or separated and making sup port some of them have just bought a new car or stereo equipment to relieve their anxieties and while counselling helps Many service Over financial others find their careers curtailed for continued Refus Al to meet their Legal policy on indebtedness is spelled out in separate service which re quire military members to meet just debts in a timely failure to meet debts May be a contributing Factor in a discharge for us but Wellington Point out that financial irresponsibility is Seldom the sole reason for such a Dis More common than outright discharge is a bar to the penalty paid by a 25yearold Soldier in a Frankfurt unit they live in o world of repossessed bounced Cheeks and court who blamed his Fate on a Trail of Debu and bad checks left by his Wellington divides bad debt cases into two classifications those who cant pay because of a financial crisis and those who cant pay and wont individuals in the tatter group usually Are separated by one Means or those in the first classification Are helped when they express a willingness to help we find creditors Are reasonable where a person is in a financial Wellington in such cases we May ask for a reduction in creditors seem to realize they wont get their Money any other it is possible for people in serious debt to save their but when Bill far exceed take Home pay something must be the luxuries Are the first things that must while Small in number compared to the thousands of servicemen and servicewomen who pay their credit Junkie remain a costly and persistent february the stars and stripes Page a3