Carnival of Debt Reduction #143 — The History of Debt

By Pinyo, on June 9, 2008

Over the weekend, I came across a rather interesting series called The History of Credit and Debt at Myvesta.org. In this carnival, I’ll be sharing short excerpts from the series.

This week carnival is not big, but it’s packed with good articles. In this carnival, I selected 9 articles as the editor’s picks and the first article in each category is considered “the best of class”.

Keeping Track

The credit and debt system began before the written word. Approximately 9,000 years ago man invented counting tokens to keep track of trades and obligations. In fact, the art of writing was invented to record our financial dealings.

Editor’s Picks

• How to Get Out of Credit Card Debt, and Stay Out posted at Frugal Dad — Learn how to get out of debt with this step-by-step guide from someone who had worked with credit card companies and dealt with countless number of credit card customers.
• Surround yourself with constant reminders posted at Gather Little by Little — Time to make yourself a “Get Out Of Debt” sign — hmm, the acronym is GOOD — Get out of debt is GOOD.
• Buy That Fun Stuff Without Going Into Debt posted at Free From Broke. — How you can buy that thingamajig without putting yourself into debt (and learn to save as well).
• Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt posted at Our Fourpence Worth. — A “back to basics” guide for staying out of debt with tips to carry out the plan.
• May Debt Reduction Progress posted at Sound Money Matters — Aryn paid off her last credit card in May and is already halfway to our goal of paying of $40,000 in debt this year! See how she did it.
• Compulsive Spending is the Biggest Behavioral Block Against Frugal Living posted at Financial Learn — Impulsive Spending – Why, How and What to do.
• Debt-aholics Anonymous: 6 Steps to Becoming Debt Sober posted at Destroy Debt.
• Breaking The Addiction To Credit posted at No Credit Needed — Although my philosophy about credit card is entirely different from NCN, I thought this was a very good post.
• Make It Do Or Do Without posted at My $mall C€nts.

Interest

At first it was considered inappropriate to receive anything more than the original sum lent. Before long, however, the value of money in relation to time was discovered. Ancient merchants quickly learned that the loss of capital led to lost profits.

Understanding Debt

• Reader Question – How Can I Improve My Credit Score? posted at Cash Money Life — How reducing your total debt can greatly improve your credit score.
• Paying for College posted at College Advice — Covers various types of loan, grants, scholarships, and work study program.
• Credit Card Statistics – The Road To More & More Debt posted at Debt Smackdown.
• Another Reason Not to Have a Store Credit Card posted at Free Money Finance — Store credit cards make you three times more likely to shop there!

Early Regulations of Interest and Credit

During the rein of Hammurabi (1792 to 1750 BC) the first regulations of interest, forgiveness of debt and extension of credit were developed.

Dealing With Debt

• Great Places To Earn and Save Money On Used Items posted at The Digerati Life — A growing trend of people are selling their stuff to pay bills…whoa.
• Our Progress: Month 5 posted at natedavidscott.com|working to be debt free — Nathaniel shares his family’s progress against debt.
• I Think Target Misses Me posted at Working For Financial Freedom — For some people, credit card is a key to debt. This is how one woman deal with that key.
• Case Closed posted at I’ve Got A Little Space To Fill — It took an accident to pay of their debts. I’m glad you guys are okay.
• A work in progress… posted at To Be Debt Free.
• Why oh Why MP Dunleavy? posted at LivingAlmostLarge — MP Dunleavy is still trying to get out of debt. Will this new idea be successful?
• Tweaking the Debt Snowball to Fit Your Life posted at Think Your Way to Wealth.

First Real Coins – Cattle Are Heavy

As the early banking system developed, people needed a way to pay for things. Carrying around cattle to settle a debt was not convenient. So, 1,200 years after Hammurabi laid down the law, the first widely-accepted coins were minted.

Saving money is a way to reduce debt

• Bring Your Lunch to Work Day posted at David Makes Cents .com — How much you can save over your lifetime by just bringing your lunch to work instead of eating out at fast food restaurants? Apparently, almost $2 million!
• New to couponing? posted at MrsJanuary.com.
• Changing How I Save Money in My ING Accounts posted at How I Save Money.net.
• Increase Your Food Security posted at Suite101: Organic Gardens blog — At the grocery store, increasing prices complement shrinking product sizes on the shelf. Meanwhile, you can still grow much of your family’s food for pennies.
• Should you let yourself take a “break” from being cheap? posted at Living the Cheap Life.

Money, Credit and Debt

Money is nothing more than a way for people to exchange labor. Paper money can be thought of as a ticket entitling the holder to a certain amount of someone else’s hard work.

Other

• When You Don’t Have An Option – You Do It! posted at Smart Investing & Money Management.
• College Budgeting posted at selectcoursesblog.com.
• Possessions – the weight of the world on your shoulders posted at Until Debt Do Us Part.
• Why Budget? posted at Financialzip.com. — When using a budget it is important to understand…
• Want to be rich? Then shut up and listen posted at I Will Not Die.

Debtors’ Prison

During the early years of the United States, up to the mid 1800s, you could get tossed in prison for failing to pay back your debts. Not only were you expected to come up with the money to pay back what you owed, but you also had to pay for your imprisonment!

• The Benefits Of Personal Finance Blogging posted at The Happy Rock.
• 5 Ways to Start Your Business With No Money! posted at Bankaholic.
• Financial Disasters: 5 Tips To Avoid One posted at Discover Debt Freedom!.
• The Benefits of Thrifty Living posted at American Consumer News.
• Think balancing the federal budget is easy? Give it a shot. posted at No Debt Plan — Think reducing debt is easy? Tackle the federal government debt and see what you come up with!

Early Sources of Credit – Pawnbrokers

Before organized consumer credit, there were five major lending sources: pawnbrokers, illegal small-loan lenders, retailers, friends and family, and mortgage lenders.

Indebtedness was common prior to the 1800s. Unfortunately, it was hidden from view in the grocer’s book and the pawnshop ledger, in the butcher’s tab and the memory of friends.

• Making Money With Compounding posted at The Mighty Dollar — Compounding is one of the simplest and most fundamental of personal finance and wealth building concepts. Reacquaint yourself with the concept of compounding and its power to accumulate wealth over the long term.
• The Perfect Home is a Financial Nightmare – Don’t Get Caught Up In the Costly Race posted at The Personal Financier — It is very easy to get sucked in a terribly expensive effort which never really ends.
• Free FICO Scores & Credit Reports posted at My Dollar Plan — Madison is refinancing to save money on her mortgage. Before applying she got her free scores and checked her credit report to make sure everything was in order.

If you are interested in reading the rest of the series, please visit The History of Credit and Debt at Myvesta.org. Please note I am NOT affiliated with Myvesta, nor do I recommend their services one way or another. I just thought the series was interesting.

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Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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