ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Hundreds of credit card debt lawsuits are filed every month in Monroe County, highlighting the growing affordability crisis.
What the affordability crisis looks like
Alex Hixson of Spencerport said he and his wife built up roughly $20,000 in credit card debt over several years. “It limited, obviously it limited what we could do,” Hixson said.
Hixson, who is not among the lawsuits filed in state supreme court, said the debt grew from choosing to swipe cards instead of paying cash. He said he paid off the debt by tackling the smallest amounts first, calling it “baby steps.” “If you take out the small monsters first, you can build yourself up to then be able to take out the big ones,” Hixson said.
4 days… $1.3 million
News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean tracked credit card lawsuits filed in Monroe County over two months. In just one day, August 12, the total amount of unsecured debt in lawsuits reached $315,000. Over four random days this year, the total came to $1.3 million.Credit card lawsuits are filed every day.
We showed our work to Karyn Rando, director of counseling at Consumer Credit Counseling Service.“I see individuals who are now going to be in a panic.” Rando said. The average person seeking help in Monroe County has 11 credit cards. “And now they’re panicking because now this money is going to be taken from them,” Rando said.
It’s getting worse
Brean: “Is this getting worse?”Karyn Rando, Consumer Credit Counseling Service: “It is. The average credit card we’re seeing, like I mentioned, is about $24,000. Last year it was only $22,000. So that’s about a 15% increase in credit card debt we’re seeing year over year.”
The credit card lawsuits are a last resort for creditors and involve debts that have not had a payment in two to three years.
Rando said most credit card debt is not caused by reckless spending but by life events like car repairs, medical bills or utility bills.
The numbers in these lawsuits are only a portion of the overall debt in the community.
News10 investigation: Monroe County credit card debt lawsuits reached $1.3 million in just four days this year WHEC.com.
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