There but for the Grace of God……
He used to run shoulders with some of UK TVs most famous faces, in a newscaster role that paid him £100,000 a year. In his heyday, he interviewed six presidents, five chancellors and three prime ministers.
Now, Ed Mitchell sleeps on a seafront bench, gets a shower and breakfast at a Brighton homeless centre and spends his day in the local library where it’s free to stay warm and he can read without cost.
What caused his downfall? Well, in Ed’s case it can be put down to credit cards. When he was made redundant in 1998 he already had over £50,000 in credit card debt.
At the end he had 25 credit cards, each of which had a credit limit of between £10,000 and £15,000.
After madly juggling his debts for almost 15 years, paying off one card against another, with his interest bills running at £4,000 a month, he was finally forced to declare bankruptcy with debts totally over £250,000.
But Mr Mitchell insisted: “I have never been happier. I now have more freedom. I don’t own a car or house or have debts or a mortgage.”
The man who was once photographed outside 11 Downing Street with fellow news readers Carol Barnes and Alistair Stewart seemed to enjoy being back in the limelight after being revealed as the Brighton’s most famous vagrant.
“As a financial and business journalist, I must have been as daft as a brush to get in this position,” said Mr Mitchell, who began his journalism career in 1974 with Reuters, before stints at the BBC and Sky News.
“I used to move from one ‘zero interest’ credit card to the next but eventually it all caught up with me.”
Still don’t think this could happen to you? It won’t if you NEVER use credit cards or if you ALWAYS pay your bill in full. Do you do that?
If not, and most of us don’t, then watch for the compound interest that puts your debt up quicker than you could believe possible. Remember, the banks are making money from you on credit that they ‘created’ when you asked for it, and then asking you to pay it back with interest. Amazingly lucrative little scam they dreamed up.
Also, pay early, because believe it or not, those lovely people at the credit card companies are now making almost as much money from late fees and fines as they do from interest.
And if you really want to free yourself from the banking system then visit www.wealthfreedomfighters.com to learn more about how to opt out.
Let Me Eat Cake! 