Consumers paying the price for Christmas indulgence
Business in the new year is up at nation's credit counseling agencies
BY EILEEN ALT POWELL
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- As the bills for Christmas spending come rolling in, a lot of Americans start feeling stressed about their debts.
So while December was a month of frenzied buying, January and February are when the phones ring at the nation's credit counseling agencies.
``We're seeing a 30 percent increase over last year,'' said Howard Dvorkin, president of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, a non-profit agency in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ``There's a lot of discomfort out there.''
The reason calls are up, he believes, is the weak economy has made Americans more concerned about how they're going to manage their heavy debt loads.
``For 10 years, we had robust economic growth and strong employment,'' Dvorkin said. ``Now the market is bad, the economy is terrible and there are job losses, so people are taking a step back and thinking about what's really going on.''
For some, the turning point is when their credit cards are maxed out and they can afford only minimum payments. Or they see a steady stream of late payment or missed payment penalties. Or they have to use one card to pay off another.
For Judith Pina, 29, of San Antonio, it was a growing sense of unease.
She and her husband, Albert, found their bills piling up after she quit work to stay home with their two children.
``When we first got married, we had perfect credit, we wouldn't dream of being late or missing a payment,'' Pina said. ``Then we got behind on our credit cards. Fees were being added, and we worried we couldn't catch up.''
She said their motivation to deal with the problem was close by: ``We looked at our kids and said, `We don't want to do this anymore. We want to be responsible for them.' ''
Pina said Consolidated Credit helped them put together a plan to pay off their $8,000 in debt over the next three to four years. They make a set monthly payment ``and put any extra money, like our tax refund,'' toward the balance.
Now they pay cash for most purchases and hold off on buying bigger items until they have the savings in hand, she said.
``We're not going to get into this credit card bind again,'' she said.
Ann Hartmann, a financial planner from Toledo, Ohio, who is president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, says consumers must make a real commitment if they want to end the debt cycle.
``If you're thinking, ``I'm just going to keep paying the minimum,' you'll still be in debt next Christmas,'' she said.
She recommends:
Keep only one or two credit cards, and cut up the rest to remove the temptation to charge more.
Make a list of your debts, and put them in order from the one that charges the highest interest rate to the one with the lowest rate. Pay the minimum on everything each month, but put as much extra money as you can on the highest-rate debt to pay it off. Then go to the next.
Don't think you can solve the problem by moving debt from one place to another. |
