Americans are suddenly defaulting on their credit cards

[CreditInspired]

You are so "on the money" TheVig. Having a budget for the last 5 years have been a godsend for me. And now that I'm on a fixed income (1yr), it's worth its weight in gold. One must know what's coming in to counter what's going out. Yep, even a cup of coffee is added to my expense report. I finally got my brother on one. The last time he had to borrow $735 from me for a car repair, I had had it up to here (hand held above my head). He makes 3X my income. So I told him the only way I would loan it to him was if we sat and did a budget and I put all his bills into auto billpay. He was madder than a hatter for a couple of months. But now, he is so appreciative. As most Americans, all he saw was a huge salary and was spending, spending, spending with no idea that he was spending more than what was coming in. .

[TheVig]

So many people have become debt slaves at their own hand.

We are marketed to based on payment.....how much will it cost a month? And that's the mentality of the consumer.

However when you look at the total or final cost right out the gate, instead of the payment, you begin to see you really can't afford certain things.

Couple that with spending money based on emotion, instead of math.

[Anonymous]

One minor point I'd like to add is that I don't think the thread title is 100% accurate, as this problem has been ongoing for as long as I can remember; I don't necessarily feel it is "sudden" as the thread title suggests.

[TheVig]

I agree, it's not "sudden". Just knucklehead consumers repeating the same ol mistakes.

[CreditInspired]

When I posted this, I took the title directly from the article.

[Anonymous]

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@CreditInspired wrote:
When I posted this, I took the title directly from the article.

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Yeah, I'm not saying I disagree with you... just with the article title, or how it's presented anyway.  I get it that you were simply quoting it.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:
When I posted this, I took the title directly from the article.

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Yeah, I'm not saying I disagree with you... just with the article title, or how it's presented anyway.  I get it that you were simply quoting it.

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