While trolling the seedy underbelly of the Internet (which is of course my favorite hobby) I came across the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen online.

Yes, worse than any YouTube cat video or pictures of Walmart customers, this made me throw up in my mouth just a little bit. What could be so terrible? What should be banned, Chinese government-style? What has me unable to eat or sleep?

It was a blog post.  About a book.

The book is called Living Well with Bad Credit by  Geoff Williams (a regular contributor to the personal financial blog WalletPop) and the journalist Chris Balish. The title alone had me in a lather. Living well with bad credit? That’s neither possible nor desirable, in my humble Debtbeat opinion. Bad credit is to be avoided and if incurred, suffered through.

The writers (one of whom recently declared bankruptcy) tout how easy life can be despite bad credit. They give primers on doing things that shouldn’t be foremost in the mind of any deadbeat, like buying a home, taking a nice vacation or starting a business.

They also give counsel on the staying mentally upbeat while having a credit score that’s lower than the Christmas temperature in Minnesota. In these tough economic times this can be a very appealing message to many who have been unable to keep up with their bills. Unfortunately is may also lead to people taking their eye off the ball and not doing everything humanly possible to reduce their debt and keep their credit score as high as possible. It’s basically like telling drug addicts that it’s alright to be strung out and giving them tips on hiding their addiction from their boss and scoring cheap smack without having to provide sexual favors.

• opening a new bank account
• getting a job
• getting car insurance
• buying a decent cellphone
• having satellite TV
• adopting a child

And while it’s possible to do any of these things with bad credit, you’re probably going to pay more and get less than people who manage their credit wisely.

To make light of bad credit (and worse yet provide a how-to-guide to manage with it) is grossly irresponsible. I’m imagining that other books in this series include Living Well while Weighing 550 Pounds and Living Well with An Untreaded STD. Like a bad credit score, these are not things to aspire to or try to live well with. These are things to fight kicking and screaming every step of the way until you are on the other side.

It’s good to remember that t is possible to begin repairing bad credit (but of course avoiding credit repair scams) and this should be the sole focus of people with low FICO scores and the message of anyone who truly wants to help them. Living well is living debt free, and having good credit is like having a good pillow; you sleep well at night.

But it’s a free country, and if you still feel the need to check this book out, Living Well with Bad Credit is available on Amazon.com.

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