Recipes for Financial Fitness

Credit Crisis

What is a financial crisis?

If you have more bills than you can pay each month and you don't know which to pay first, you are probably in a credit crisis. Reviewing your credit report and credit score may confirm your suspicion.

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Your credit score is in the “poor” or “fair” category.

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Your credit report contains these negative items:

•	A thin gap between your total available credit and your total credit balances
•	Charge-offs now in collection
•	A foreclosure
•	A bankruptcy

Here are some signs of having too much debt, which usually lead to a financial crisis.

Signs of Having Too Much Debt
1	You make minimum payments on all your credit accounts.
2	You borrow money to pay off debt.
3	You miss payments or pay your bills late every month.
4	All of your cards are either near the credit limit or maxed out.
5	You take on an extra job to pay your bills.
6	Credit collectors call you.
7	You’ve been denied credit.
8	You bounce checks.
9	Your savings has been depleted.
10	You don’t know how much debt you really have and are afraid to look.
11	You hide all this from loved ones.