SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The holiday season has a way of bringing finances to the forefront for many people, and a recent survey found Florida has one of the highest rates of credit card debt in the country.
WalletHub found the average adult in Florida carries $7,965 in credit card debt.
Nancy Cranmer watched her finances spiral out of control.
“I’ve always been financially good, but when it all hit, it hit with a snowball," Cranmer said. “I just did not have the income I used to have.”
In 2020, Cranmer had just opened a gift boutique selling items she handmade.
“I literally had my doors open three months, and COVID came,” she said.
Cranmer was forced to close her shop. At the same time, she said she was going through a divorce but that wasn't everything.
“I had cancer popped in, and you lose your medical insurance when you’re on it with your husband. I had medical bills all of a sudden,” Cranmer said.
Cranmer said she relied on credit cards, but the bills kept growing.
“I would miss payments and credit cards. They can go from 12% to 29% by missing a payment," she said.
Cranmer turned to a debt consolidation program through Money Management International (MMI).
“I’m three years, I think, into the program, and I’m about 80% paid off,” she said.
Programs like MMI work with creditors to reduce someone’s interest rates and balances and then set up payment plans.
“We reduce on an average of 25 years off credit card bills," said Sandee Rains, a Program Manager for Financial Wellness at MMI.
Rains said they've seen a 78% increase in people signing up for their program compared to the same time last year. Rains said MMI is also getting more calls for help from younger generations, notably from Gen Z.
"They're not thinking, 'What's my bill going to cost me next month when it comes through?'" Rains said. "That compounded interest month after month as balances increase is going to increase the monthly payment and people don’t stop to think about that particular payment."
MMI charges a fee for its credit consolidation program.
“I think I’m paying them $25 a month for this service,” Cranmer said. “My credit has actually gone up now.”
Cranmer said she hopes others struggling with debt will see what happened to her and realize hope exists.
"It’s not a shameful thing. You can build your way back out of it," Cranmer said.
The New Year can be a good time to rethink finances. Consumers trying to pay off credit card debt should set up a payment plan and stick to it, then when possible, budget more money to pay off the debt.
