WSJ highlights lady who can’t pay minimum credit card payments on 194K annual salary

Of course they don’t go into detail about any of her spending habits but if you can’t make ends meet and/or pay off your 15K credit card balance much less make the minimum payments due on an almost 200K annual salary you’re probably making TERRIBLE financial decisions and only have yourself to blame. But you know…nobody takes personal accountability these days.

Except from article: “

After working all day as an operations director at a busy New England hospital, Catherine Clarke would lie awake at night wondering where she went wrong.

Despite her $194,000 salary, Clarke’s Chase Sapphire credit-card balance had crept up to $15,000. She could afford the $572 monthly minimum, but with a 26% interest rate, it barely made a dent.

Like many Americans, Clarke, who is 42 years old, was pushed to her financial limit by the one-two punch of inflation and the highest interest rates in decades. She avoided going out with friends to save money, and considered taking a second job as a receptionist at her gym. She imagined something terrible befalling her, and her parents discovering her mounting credit-card bills.

“It felt very similar to a struggle with weight,” Clarke said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens slowly, and then suddenly, you’re like ‘Oh, crap, my pants don’t fit.’”

In the first quarter of this year, the percentage of credit-card balances that were at least 90 days delinquent rose to 13.12%, according to data released in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s the highest level in 15 years, and the most since the period following the 2008 financial crisis.“