Confronting mounting debt

My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill

Excerpt:

So that week, I made an appointment with a financial counselor. As it happens, he's dating a friend. But as a lawyer for a New York nonprofit called the Financial Clinic, which helps people in serious credit card debt, David Friedman works with people like me all the time.

"We demonize credit card companies, and we should," David told me, as we sat in his office. "But a lot of what I see is a failure of people to advocate for themselves."

I liked a lot of things about talking to David. He was honest about my problems but also encouraging. He seemed nonjudgmental about the damage I had done. Mostly I liked that I walked into that session a little bit helpless. But I left with a plan.

"We have to stop the bleeding," said David. That meant two immediate things: getting my credit cards under the limit and trying to raise my credit score, which had been officially branded "poor."

I had an idea: "What about transferring my balance to a no-interest card?" I asked. "Or getting them to raise my credit limit?"

"You could try that," he said, with the tact of a hairdresser telling the old woman she might not look like Jennifer Aniston. "But I'm pretty sure you won't qualify."


Comment: From Salon.com. May require a one day site pass (view an ad to get in). This is a really good read!