Originally published March 26 2005
Seniors and baby boomers are building serious credit card debt
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Though young people are still the worst at managing credit card debt, seniors and baby boomers actually have the fastest growing debt problem. A lack of health insurance, the struggling stock market, early retirement, and even the death of spouses has pushed older people into a cycle of debt that they may not be able to escape, especially on fixed incomes.
Seniors and aging baby boomers are struggling with growing credit card debt - and experts expect the numbers to rise as retirement funds fall short and the cost of living spirals ever higher.
``We see a lot of older folks on fixed incomes who are finding retirement funds are not sufficient to keep up with everyday living,'' said Andy Liles of American Credit Counseling Service Inc. ``They go into credit-card debt trying to pay for their meds.''
It's a shift from the common debt demographics of years past: college kids charging burgers and beers on plastic with no real plans of paying off the balance.
While the 17-to-24 and 25-to-34 age groups are still steadily acquiring heavy debt, older consumers are gaining on them.
The average debt of Americans 65 and older has jumped 89 percent in the past decade to more than $4,000, while those 50 to 64 have seen their average debt double to the same amount, according to a report by New York think-tank Demos.
``Many of the seniors who are having credit problems are not there for frivolous reasons,'' said Sally Hurme of AARP.
``It's not because they're charging their trip around the world, it's that they have $300 a month in prescriptions.''
When we started 21 years ago, seniors didn't have credit cards,'' said Len Raymond of Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elders, where the average client is an 80-year-old widow with $10,000 in credit card debt making $16,000 a year.
One client of the Boston non-profit is a Danvers man with 30 cards that total $202,000.
Another is a western Massachusetts widow who racked up $54,000 on her cards paying for her husband's cancer treatment.
``It really rips your heart out,'' said Raymond.
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