B’Boomers fighting credit debt

B’Boomers fighting credit debt

40% of the 78 million Baby Boomers are in hock to creditors.  The Boomers who were known for paying their bills are now being fleeced by credit card interest rates and medical expenses that are out of control.  Where can they turn? 

Let’s face facts.  Say you want to work and can physically work, but who is going to hire you for a job where your talents can really benefit the company even though you might be willing to work at a lower wage?  It is true that there are a few employers that have seen the light and know that what you bring to the job is experience and dependability that is hard to find in younger workers.  But these visionaries are few and far between.

So while you are waiting to find a way to pay your debts you continue to use up your assets to keep the door open and put food and medicine on the table with nothing to shield you from the day when your credit is used up. 

What are the options: debt counselors, debt consolidators, taking on more debt or having some attorney incorporate or help you give your assets away?  None of those solutions are too inviting.  On a personal level, since I ran my own business and had several deals in the works I believed that if I could just make it through another month or two, I could begin to pay off my bills.

In my search for a solution I ran across an article that said that once your debtors have gotten the full price for the merchandise, they let you buy on credit and you start running in arrears, many will sell off your debt to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar.  That astounded me.  In other words a collection agency, that had bought my debt for pennies, was now going to try to get me to pay for that same item again including interest and penalties.

I said there must be a law and there is, the law is that interest, late fees and other penalties on unsecured credit card debt is not controlled or regulated by the Federal Government and hasn’t been since the 1978 Marquette Bank opinion that permitted national banks to export interest rates on consumer loans from the state where credit decisions were made to borrowers nationwide.  That was when certain states like South Dakota, who was hurting for jobs and revenue, cut a deal with Citibank and others to relax and do away with credit card usury regulations altogether.  Now the credit card companies are making more than the oil companies because they are not regulated.  You and I the credit card borrowers, are the only ones that can influence the interest rates of the credit card companies by paying down our revolving debt and becoming “deadbeats” (people who monthly pay off their cards) instead of “revolvers.” .  

We the people have to take control and fight back anyway we can since very few of our legislatures seem to care.  What each of us needs is time.  Given enough time most of us will find a way to pay off our debts.