It was the first full year of a credit counseling service offered by Personal and Family Counseling Services at New Philadelphia. Fred Weingarth, a certified consumer credit counselor, sees an average of up to six individuals or couples each month.
“Most of it has been credit card debt, and it ranges from about $10,000 up to $67,000,” he said. “That’s debt on credit cards alone, usually with about six cards.”
When that’s the case “there are some real issues there. They’re charging everything – food, gas – basically they’re living off their credit cards. They pay their mortgage, utilities and car payment from their pay check and the rest of it goes for living expenses. It’s a pretty sad commentary.
“I’ve seen people with truck payments as high as $500 or $600 a month and mortgages that they can’t afford,” he said. “They don’t sit down and look at their income and base what they can afford on it.”
Often it’s a case of making a bad decision, or getting bad advice from a lender, family member or friend, he said.
