Survey reveals troubling numbers of military personnel in debt

[unhappycamper]

Survey reveals troubling numbers of military personnel in debt
Michelle Singletary
Wednesday, October 13, 2010; 8:32 PM

Whenever I'm traveling and I see uniformed military personnel, I can't help but become a little teary-eyed.

I worry that the service members may be shipping out to Afghanistan or Iraq. I appreciate the sacrifice those in the military make, especially the many who are in combat zones.

~snip~

Military personnel and spouses are generally heavier users of credit cards than civilians, the survey found, and they are more heavily indebted to credit card issuers.

In online polling of 700 current members of the U.S. armed services and 100 spouses of current members, more than one in four respondents reported having more than $10,000 in credit card debt. Ten percent of respondents said they were carrying $20,000 or more in such debt. The percentage of those who made minimum credit card payments, took out cash advances and paid fees was highest among families of enlisted personnel and junior noncommissioned officers.

More than one-third of the military respondents said they had trouble keeping up with monthly expenses and bills. Many service members have gotten payday or auto title loans. Members of the military use payday loans three times as often as civilians, a separate Defense Department study found. With a payday loan, you borrow against a future paycheck. On an annualized basis, I've seen the interest rate on such loans range from 400 percent to more than 1,000 percent.

[w8liftinglady]

1. This is so incredibly disgusting.i remember when my dad was in Viet Nam-we saw it a lot

things haven't changed much in 40 years,have they?