Posted on 02/15/2026 8:54:09 AM PST by Mariner
Sitting outside every morning with a fresh cup of coffee or reading a book in the front yard at night: it's the simple pleasures that matter to Susan Cannon.
Lately, sky-high interest rates on the 73-year-old's credit cards have cast a dark shadow.
"I can't get the balance down because I am still having to use credit cards at the end of the month to get groceries and gas," Cannon, who lives in a mobile home in rural Texas, told Business Insider. "I pay my bills, but because of the interest rates, it keeps going up. I feel like I'm being gouged."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Only a judge can help her now.
I support 10% cap because it takes cards out of the hands of people like this poor woman.
Bankruptcy might make sense for her. But she really needs a household budget to see how much money is coming in and where is her money going.
If she declares bankruptcy, but still would not have enough money to pay her bills,, rent groceries utilities et cetera, then she’s got other problems.
Considering the size of her debt, bankruptcy might make sense, but she really needs to have a household budget. She definitely needs credit counseling assistance to evaluate her financial situation.
So she has 19 cards with each having a very low credit line.
Sounds like a great idea.
It does seem easy to get a credit card nowadays.
Nowadays almost every retailer of any kind takes credit cards. I can remember a time when supermarkets and places like 711 did not take credit card. Many small businesses did not accept credit cards.
Nowadays, it’s hard to find any business that does not accept credit cards. And that’s probably a factor with people like this woman, because everywhere she goes involving spending money, she doesn’t have to have cash with her. All she has to do is pull out her card.
“This woman is bankrupt and 10% interest won’t help her.”
She is not bankrupt. She has a savings account.
Improper planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Some people know how to use credit cards and others don’t. This woman doesn’t. The way to use them is to get rebating cards, concentrate recurring expenditures on one, and pay off every card fully each month. That way you actually end up making money off the rebates. For example, I had one time when a card of mine had accumulated $1800 of rebates that enabled to buy a set of new tires for my SUV.
That also shows why a course in consumer finance, particularly including credit cards and how they are double edged swords, is essential for the junior or senior year in high school and all students should be required to take it. It should not just be an AP course.
“”””I can’t get the balance down because I am still having to use credit cards at the end of the month to get groceries and gas,” Cannon, who lives in a mobile home in rural Texas, told Business Insider. “I pay my bills, but because of the interest rates, it keeps going up. I feel like I’m being gouged.””””
Her only solution is to move to Minneapolis and start a daycare for Somali children.
She could get a job protesting ICE
Nineteen credit cards! That goes well-over and above Ed Norton’s (Honeymooners) 14 lines of credit, which is one reason why they live a little better than the Kramdens (although Ralph’s money schemes do NOT help).
I have little sympathy for adults who cannot do basic math. Or understand a calendar.
Yes, spending on credit cards should be paid every month to avoid interest.
Yes, I know there are financial emergencies we all encounter, where the expedient thing might be to put the expense on a credit card. But even in that case, you should know where the money is going to come from to pay off that credit card.
This ties in with advice we often hear from financial advisors , about how you should have six months or more of expenses in a savings account. And that money is there just in case of emergency, and not to be used for everyday spending.
As soon as the courts grant her petition for bankruptcy, she will receive letters from credit card companies asking her to accept their cards.
Actually, Norton ALSO had 19 Charge accounts (not many modern credit cars then) according to the Honeymooners Wikipedia page:
“Though Norton makes the same weekly $62 salary as Ralph (roughly $730 in 2024 dollars), their higher standard of living might be explained by Norton’s freer use of credit; at one point he admits to having 19 charge accounts”
I know (too many) people who have a multitude of credit cards, usually between 20-40, and are in a similar situation.
What they do is rotate their balance between credit cards when one has a 6 month “low rate” tranfer special. And if none of their current cards has one, they add a new one that does (which is why their inventory of cards keeps increasing).
Thankfully, I am not in that situation (and hopefully never will be), but it is depressing to talk to people who are.
To me, it seems that it’s all been turned on its head.
Many places only want or accept credit cards. Those that do accept cash seem to resent it or consider it an inconvenience. I’ve been to State parks that won’t accept cash for entry fees!
Thank you Joe Biden and the Dem party. Most likely who she voted for.
Well that’s amazing isn’t it. I wonder if those are more high interest credit cards she would get?
It might seem paradoxical, but i’ve heard your credit score can often increase once you’ve declared bankruptcy.Because you no longer have that big debt on your credit report.
And there are time limits. I believe you can only go bankrupt once every seven years or every ten years, or some time limit on that.
Which means if you get new credit cards and start running up balances, the credit card issuer knows you’re not going to be able to go bankrupt anytime soon to get out from under.
“She is not bankrupt. She has a savings account.”
It’s unlikely to have $40k in it.
But the bankruptcy judge can determine its disposition.o
This is describing my daughter’s mother in law.
She has been running the family business into the ground. She keeps taking loans out against her home. And yet…the business keeps coming up short.
I told my daughter to start clearing out that spare bedroom because she will have a new housemate by the end of the year.
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