For nine years, there has been an eerie quiet at my office every December.  While holiday shoppers hustle and bustle in the streets below, the door that opens to our office only occasionally swings open to reveal a person in financial crisis. 

Some recession. 

I have talked to countless people who suddenly find themselves without a job.  Tell this to the Borders next to my office, where the line last week wrapped so long around the street that an employee was assigned the job of holding a sign that read “Line ends here.”  Some have the money to make these frivolous holiday purchases, but many do not:

You know, there are some things money can’t buy—for everything else, there’s Mastercard.

Makes me wonder if Santa has been maxing out his limits.

The other day, I was talking to a colleague who was born in St. Kitts, but also spent a significant amount of time growing up in Canada and the U.S, having lived here much of her adult life.  I was curious about how her friends and family back in St Kitts treat the holidays.  She confessed that the holidays are every bit as commercial there as they are here.  Like Americans, people there will use credit cards to make purchases—but it’s very rare for them to do so unless they will be paying off their debts in full when the bill arrives. 

Not even close here—as quiet as it is in December, the masses knock down our doors in January when their massive credit card statements arrive and freak out time follows.

We ran through many ideas as to why people in St Kitts still spend a ton on the holidays, still use credit cards and yet somehow manage to use them responsibly.  Then, I think we came up with an answer (at least based on a 10 minute conversation that would present a great research opportunity)--  anonymity.  There’s plenty of it in the States and almost none of it in St Kitts.

There are no credit bureaus or credit ratings in St Kitts, leading me to believe that to finance major purchases like cars and houses, one must develop a good relationship with their local banker.  And if you mess up or overextend yourself, not only will your banker know but word will spread in a way that simply doesn’t happen in a country with over 300 million people.  

Meanwhile, I am left amazed that someone can step into my office owing over 50,000 dollars and yet as long as they pay their bills on time, they don’t carry any stigma. 

(A person who walks into my office realizes that something must be done though, for every person who contacts us, numerous others are in the same boat, continuing to live in denial.)

What’s the lesson here?

Who knows.  There are a ton of reasons why people in this country make foolish financial decisions.  But the ability to make mistakes under a cloak of anonymity makes it all the easier to get away with it.  Heck, before the recession, you could easily buy several houses without putting a penny down. 

Our recession has afforded us somewhat of a reality check.  However, the chaos of people buying crap that nobody needs for people they only care about for a few days a year reminds us that our fantasy land hasn’t really melted away.

                                                                                                                                                                 --Chris Dlugozima