Note to readers: My opinion piece “Escaping the American Credit Nightmare” appears in the Sunday (Oct. 12, 2008)  edition of the Miami Herald, in the “My View” column of the business section. Here’s my original piece below — Barbara Drake:  One of the pleasures of moving to Peru last July (2007) was escaping the flurry of credit offers that used to besiege our mailbox in Florida. Each afternoon I’d grab the stack of new mail and spend a good 15 minutes going through the envelopes. There’d be offers for new credit cards, lines of credit, adjustable-rate mortgages on our home, home-equity lines of credit, cash-out refinances. I had never asked for…