Newsweek: Plastic Predicament
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PostPosted: Wed, Aug 16 2006, 10:22 pm EDT    Post subject: Newsweek: Plastic Predicament Reply with quote

Plastic Predicament

Credit-card debt has nearly tripled in the last two decades, leaving many Americans stuck in a sinkhole of fees and penalties. Who's to blame, irresponsible spenders or predatory lenders?

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Jessica Bennett
Newsweek
Updated: 1:04 p.m. ET Aug. 16, 2006

Aug. 16, 2006 - At the height of their debt, Delilah and Kevin Lewis, of Chattanooga, Tenn., had filed for bankruptcy twice, were nearly $50,000 deep and were still spending on more than 25 credit cards. Though their yearly incomes had once totaled more than $90,000, Delilah was laid off in 1996, the result of a downsizing effort by the local newspaper where she worked. Not long after, she suffered a stroke—and was hit with $5,000 in medical fees. "By then, we were just sinking," the 53-year-old says. "I was working overtime to try to make back all this money, and I had a heart attack at age 45. I was a young healthy woman, but I was so highly stressed that I just made myself ill."

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