Now seniors are accumulating credit card dues

As if all the hue and cry about young adults piling up card debt wasn`t enough, now senior citizens are piling up card debts and living life king size, as if there were no tomorrow. These retirees are racking up debts at a very fast pace and will certainly not live to pay off most of these debts however, they don`t seem to have any qualms about doing so. While there are other retirees who are laden with debts and are declaring bankruptcy. These numbers are only growing.

As per the recent study conducted by the non-profit CESI Debt Solutions, this has become a worrisome trend as senior citizens (at least 401%) are racking up debts that they cannot pay during their lifetimes. These debts have been built up over a period of time, where it is both prior to and after retirement.

As per the survey, there were 56% of the retired citizens who had outstanding debts even before they retired and 96% did not want to delay their retirement plans just because of their outstanding debts.

According to CESI, credit card debts have been mounting after these seniors retire from their work force. Most seniors are found using their cards on leisure activities, while most seniors claim that they have bigger expenses related to health and hospitalization as well as other medical bills. In fact, 75% of the respondents claimed that the debts incurred were due to medical as well as funeral expenses and not on leisure activities, entertainment, clothing, jewelry or travel. Around 30% of those interviewed stated that they were still paying off their mortgage loans while 19% had auto loans to pay off. Another 45% claimed to be paying off somebody else`s student loan.

Generally, senior citizens hesitate to talk about their financial situation post retirement as this phase is supposed to be about enjoying their lives with the money that was saved for that period. Instead, most people couldn`t afford to do it during their slog years. The golden period cannot be called so especially if someone is sinking in debts.

Apart from the moral aspect of not paying back debts, there is very little in terms of the flipside for the seniors who have decided to take their debts to their grave. As per the law, creditors cannot legally attach anything to the pension or social security of senior citizens.

Doug Nicholas

Doug Nicholas, a financial consultant by profession with a Masters degree in International Business from Brown University, is also an ardent writer. Though he has a full time job at one of the companies listed on Wall Street, he does manage to squeeze in time to follow his passion. He puts his ideas to words in his articles related to finance and business.