'I’m making the most money I've ever made, and I’m still living paycheck to paycheck'

“There’s this wild disconnect between what people are experiencing and what economists are experiencing,” says Nikki Cimino, a recruiter in Denver.

    • Null User Object
      673·
      8 months ago

      Holy crap! She was “saving up” to buy a condo instead of using that money to pay off the credit cards? That’s absolutely insane. I really feel like society would benefit immensely if there were mandatory financial literacy courses every 4 years, or at least before any major purchases (house, car, etc).

        • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
          62·
          8 months ago

          I’m all for interest caps but if the highest they could charge was say 9% they’d just deny credit to tons of people, not give them lower interest debt. I’m okay with that though.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
          33·
          8 months ago

          Pretty sure every cc has the minimum payment higher than the interest. If you just stop buying shit you’ll pay it off eventually, even if you can only afford the minimum payment. The balance can’t grow unless you’re still buying shit.

          • Patches@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            8 months ago

            They codified that so yes you will pay it off eventually. It will no longer continue to grow forever. However it will take an excessively long amount of time. Like taking a 30-year mortgage to buy a bag of fuckin McDonalds.

            For example the couple above, 62 and 65, will almost assuredly be dead by the time they pay it off at minimum payment.

      • FaceDeer@fedia.io
        205·
        8 months ago

        Also she was apparently planning on low interest rates, but when the rates went up she shrugged and didn’t adjust her plans. It’s kind of hard feeling sympathy for her. If she’d been hit with an unexpected but unavoidable expense that would be a different matter.

    • kescusay@lemmy.world
      201·
      8 months ago

      Bingo. I never, ever let credit card debt carry over. I’d genuinely rather miss a house payment.

    • QuaternionsRock@lemmy.world
      14·
      8 months ago

      For Denise and Paul Nierzwicki, credit cards are the only way to make ends meet. The couple, ages 69 and 72, respectively, have about $20,000 in debt spread across multiple cards, all with interest rates above 20%.

      The trouble started during the pandemic, when Denise lost her job and a business deal for a bar that they owned in their hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, went bad.

      They applied for Social Security, which helped, and Denise now works 50 hours a week at a restaurant. Still, they’re barely scraping together the minimum payments for their credit card debt.

      Jesus. I don’t see how this gets un-fucked without a massive wave of defaults. And that’ll just lead to a different kind of fucked.