I get a lot of phone calls from major media outlets. The New York Times, FOX News, Time Magazine, just to name a few. It’s not because I’m famous. It’s because Consolidated Credit is.
Most recently, Consolidated Credit appeared in The Wall Street Journal – which is, believe it or not, the largest print newspaper in the country, with 412,000 subscribers.
A Journal reporter was working on a long, 2,000-word story called, Americans Are Falling Behind on Their $1.25 Trillion Credit-Card Bill. The reason for the story: Inflation and interest rates are rising, which means more Americans can’t afford even minimum payments on their credit cards.
That’s probably because the average interest rate on credit cards these days is well over 20%, which means you’re losing $1 for every $5 you charge. It’s hard to keep up with that in the best of times. And these aren’t the best of times.
“The percentage of credit-card balances that were at least 90 days delinquent rose to 13.12%,” Journal reporter Dan Frosch wrote. “That’s the highest level in 15 years, and the most since the period following the 2008 financial crisis.”
Not a problem? That’s rich!
Because The Wall Street Journal is a business-oriented newspaper, it profiled a wide range of professionals with massive credit card problems:
- Melissa, “a medical assistant”
- Catherine, “an operations director at a busy New England hospital”
- Joseph, “a classically trained pipe organist who plays in regional orchestras and teaches piano on the side”
What fascinated me was Catherine, whose salary is $194,000. Yet as The Journal reported, her balances had ballooned to $15,000. “ She could afford the $572 monthly minimum, but with a 26% interest rate, it barely made a dent,” the story said.
In two decades of fielding calls from reporters and editors, the one fact that shocks those journalists the most is this: Six-figure salaries don’t shield you from credit card balances you can’t pay back.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve met many Consolidated Credit clients who delayed making the call because they felt shame. They fret that others will judge them for outspending their earnings.
Yet it can happen to anyone, at any income level. And it’s not spending sprees that cause the most problems. The Journal article contained some of the reasons, which can be summed up as costly divorce, chronic illness, serious accident, major repair, or natural disaster.
Credit where it’s due
When The Wall Street Journal called me, they were seeking to interview some of our clients. One who was willing was Joseph, who as The Journal reported, “took a job at a local nonprofit”…
“His salary went up by $20,000, then another $30,000 when he was named the group’s executive director. … Still, he secretly carried his debt around like an invisible weight. Sitting on the couch at his new partner’s home one night, he unburdened himself. His partner confided that he, too, had about $12,000 of credit-card debt and had recently started working with Consolidated Credit.
Remember when I said the average credit card interest rate is over 20%? We cut Joseph’s rate to 6%. He bought a new home and feels “liberated from his balances.”
If we can do that for Joseph and for many, many others, we can do it for you, too. That’s why Consolidated Credit is big news these days.
