David Spates "Therefore I Am" Published May 10, 2005

Perhaps I'll move to Texas and shoot my credit rating in the foot

If paying your bills on time is wrong, I don't want to be right. It's just not my style. Maybe I should move to the Midwest and spend time with folks of my own ilk.

I recently read in USA Today that Texas ranks highest in the percentage of people who were late on a credit card or loan payment at least once in the past six months. According to the cute little info-graphic, a whopping 32.0 percent of Texans fell into that category, followed by South Carolina (30.6), Alabama (30.4), Louisiana (30.3), New Mexico (29.5) and Mississippi (27.8).

When I saw the ranking, I thought it would make an interesting column. Call us nerdy and predictable, but the wife and I always pay our bills on time. I can't imagine doing otherwise. It's not as though we're swimming in loot either. What was once a two-paycheck home with no kids is now a one-paycheck home with two kids. Sure I make a couple of bucks doing some work for the Chronicle, but it's nothing like a full-time gig, so I guess you could say we're a paycheck-and-a-fifth home.

I realize that in some situations, late bills are the result of unforeseen financial problems. Life happens, and I understand that. However, I doubt percentages like Texas' are solely the result of financial woes. There is some neglect going on there.

These were some of my initial thoughts after seeing the ranking. The idea for the column wasn't cemented until Shelia, my wife, came home from work later that night.

She was told by someone that she is "structured" because we pay our bills on time and because we save for the future.

O ... K ...

I don't get it either. If the definition of structured includes paying one's debts in a timely manner and saving a few bucks, I suppose we are indeed structured. Describing someone as structured doesn't exactly seem like a compliment. It's like describing your wife as sturdy. After I heard the comment about us being structured, I knew I had to write about it.

I suspect there are plenty of people who think like this. For some, paying bills on time and giving a little forethought to the days ahead is, well, boring. In fact, it may be a cultural thing. Look at the states topping the tardy bill list: Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi. When I think of these states, I envision folks who like to live by the seats of their pants. They march to the beat of their own drummer, or banjo player, as the case may be. They're free spirits, fiercely individualistic, mavericks. They'll buy you dinner one night just because they like the look on your face. They'll also punch you square in the jaw the next night - just because they don't like the look on your face.

Now let's look at the other end of the spectrum, the states full of people who pay their bills on time. According to USA Today's source, Experian, the top six states that have the lowest percentage of late bill payers are: South Dakota at 16.0 percent, Minnesota (16.6), Montana (16.6), North Dakota (16.7), Vermont (17.3) and Iowa (17.8), home to none other than Radar O'Reilly.

Is anyone surprised by the second list? People in the Midwest are polite almost to a fault, so it's little wonder they've earned that reputation. They're so nonconfrontational they're practically Canadian. With all due respect to the people in the Midwest and Vermont, when I think of those citizens, "maverick" isn't the first word that comes to mind. I doubt too many people in South Dakota would label me "structured" because we pay our bills on time.

That's the reason why my wife and I haven't saddled ourselves with tens of thousands of dollars in debt like so many other Americans. Maxing out credit cards has become a national pastime, but I just couldn't enjoy my purchases knowing that I'll be paying the bill for the next eight years -- plus 18 percent interest compounded annually. I have a hard enough time sleeping at night without thinking about how to borrow against my home equity loan in order to pay off a Visa card so that I can pinch my credit rating enough to afford a new car every 18 months. That doesn't sound like living to me. It sounds like existence.

I'd rather squirrel away a few bucks and enjoy the fruits of today's labor for decades to come. We'll put in our time as needed, but after that we're gone. We won't be workin' for The Man forever. Life's too short.

We don't save because it's fun. We don't pay our bills on time because we have a Rainman-like compulsion to do so. We want out of the office ASAP. The world is calling. In a few decades, we'll be happy about what we're doing now. We're going to structure ourselves right out of the 9-to-5 rote.

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David Spates is a Knoxville resident and Crossville Chronicle contributor whose column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at davespates@chartertn.net.