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What credit card debt hides

By Cathy Moran

I met with a couple yesterday with over a $100K in credit card debt.

When the bankruptcy schedules are filed, this will look like a case of consumer spending run amok. What, the casual observer will ask, did they buy for that amount of debt?

Medications, gas, and groceries, is the answer.

Because this 50ish couple are both diabetic in addition to having been in a horrific car accident several years ago. When they moved to California from the Midwest, their insurance premiums went from $800/ month to $1900/month. Their insurance does not cover doctor visits or medications.

Credit cards help mitigate the desperateness of their situation, for a while. But not for the long haul.

This supports my contention that credit cards simply mask, for a while anyway, the squeeze on the middle class.

We can delude ourselves for a while that things are OK, when they are not.

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Filed Under: True Stories

About Cathy Moran

I'm a veteran bankruptcy lawyer and consumer advocate in California's Silicon Valley. I write, teach, and speak in the hopes of expanding understanding of how bankruptcy can make life better in a family's future.

Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

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