Financial companies tempt many Americans to ruin

According to Gretchen Morgenson's article in the New York Times of 20 July, Ms. McLeod used to juggle two mortgages, both with interest rates that rose over time, and a car loan and high-cost credit card debt. She worked two jobs so she could afford her comfortable life style.

Then in 2007, medical emergencies helped push her over the edge. She could no longer afford either her home payments or her credit card bills. Then she lost her job. Now her home is in foreclosure and her credit profile in ruins.

Ms. McLeod, who is 47, readily admits her money problems are largely of her own making. But as surely as it takes two to tango, she had partners like Citigroup and Capital in her financial demise. They were collecting interest payments totaling more than a ruinous 40 percent of her pretax income and thousands more in fees.

While the circumstances surrounding these downfalls vary, one element is identical: the lucrative lending practices of America's merchants of debt have led millions of Americans - young and old, native and immigrant, affluent and poor - to the brink. More and more, Americans can identify with miners of old: in debt to the company store with little chance of paying up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/business/20debt.html?ei=5087&em=&en=b1d6623c5fbc4ded&ex=1216785600&pagewanted=print