Read more: Local, Economy, Bankruptcy Holiday Shopping
TOLEDO -- “This lady has 18 credit cards,” said Dona Graves, a credit counselor with Community Credit Counseling, talking about one of her many customers.
Everyone's talking about fresh starts and new beginnings for 2010, but what if you’re like the lady with almost 20 credit cards who pays as much on those cards every month as someone else might be paying on a mortgage.
“Their credit card debt gets to the point where they cannot make their minimum payments and then their creditors are calling them and they're worried about getting sued or getting their wages garnished,” said Graves.
It's not all about holiday binges, but for 2009, various economic factors are contributing to rising debt and the rise in bankruptcies.
“Usually there is a triggering event that causes the telephone call to our office,” said Patricia Kovacs, a bankruptcy attorney at Kovacs and associates.
Those triggers can be anything from the loss of a job, the loss of benefits, and default rates on credit cards.
According to Toledo's bankruptcy court, 9,247 people in Northwest Ohio filed for bankruptcy for 2009.
That's up 26% from 2008 where filings were 7,318.
And all this talk about a new decade, well at the beginning of the old decade only 5,567 people filed.
That's 3,680 less than in 2009.
Dona's job is to get a hold of these folks that Kovacs calls the ‘honest, but unfortunate,’ to help them achieve this fresh start everyone is talking about.
“If you're on the edge and you know that you’re not going to be able to make all those payments, please get counseling. We can help you so much quicker and easier before the creditors are calling you and they're upset with you and you get three months behind,” said Graves.
The Community Credit Counseling service is a non-profit operation that provides free counseling to customers.
You can call them at (419) 865-2333.
You can also call Kovacs and Associates at (419) 241-4050 if you are looking to get advice from a bankruptcy attorney.
