Young Workers Living with Old Debt

Generous credit lines extended too early, stagnant wages, and a consumer culture are a dangerous mix for many young people.

For many young people the future seems determined by the bills that come with it. They’re entering the workforce tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Average college students owe $20,000 in consumer debt by graduation. To get a financial foothold, many young people are postponing moving out of the family home. Those that do move out are sometimes forced to return by the economic pressures of living independently.

Edward Martinez, a registrar at New York City’s Mt. Sinai Hospital, says he avoids using his credit card for impulsive purchases.

A former “shopaholic,” administrative assistant Sylvana Anfarens of St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City paid off $20,000 of credit card debt in 14 months.

Bronx Lebanon Hospital Community Education Assistant Augusto Kortright paid off $23,000 of debt and purchased an apartment.

“Money is the topic of the year,” says Edward Martinez, 23, a registrar at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Martinez recently finished nursing school and lives at home in Connecticut with his family. “I get credit card offers in the mail every day. They say my credit is great. I know it’s a trick. I have one credit card, and I use it in emergencies only. But the temptation is always there. I work hard. Why shouldn’t I have the better things in life? I know these companies make their money through debt. I’m really trying not to be in debt.”

Through careful spending and budgeting Augusto Kortright, a Community Education Assistant at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, dug himself out of $23,000 of debt. With the help of 1199SEIU’s Home Mortgage Program, he recently purchased a co-op in the Bronx. “Today the only debt I have is for my mortgage,” says Kortright, 36.

For many, the cost of past financial missteps means struggling today. Repaying old debt hinders financial progress. Young working families face a twofold challenge with stagnant wages and rising prices. 

Rebecca Tetzaguic is a single mother supporting two toddlers. She has $2,400 in credit card debt—half of what it was—from before her children were born. She takes a $4,700 loan each year just to make ends meet.

“Some weeks I have $8.00 to my name for the whole week. I’m on a payment plan with the electric company. The credit card companies call all hours of the day and night. It’s terrible,” says Tetzaguic, 25, a billing clerk at Boston Medical Center. “I try to distribute my money as best I can. I don’t like not paying them their money.”

“I had a massive flow of credit card offers when I was 18. If I would have taken them all, I’d be in jail,” says Rebecca Tetzaguic, a billing clerk at Boston Medical Center. PHOTO: Jenny Bauer

Tetzaguic took a financial management class and today does her best to manage her money. She sees what retailers and credit card companies do to encourage young people to make the same mistakes she made.

“I had a massive flow of credit card offers when I was 18. If I would have taken them all, I’d be in jail,” she says. “It makes me so mad because they know how young people are. I see the jeans. They’re over $100 and young people love them. I understand. I used to spend $500 or $600 on a weekend. But young people have to realize that it’s going to get to such a point where they are going to wonder why they did it.”

Sylvana Anfarens, an administrative assistant at St. Vincent’s Hospital Cancer Center in Manhattan, paid off the $20,000 in credit card debt she accumulated as a self-described “shopaholic.” She did so in 14 months with the help of a financial counselor and today lives frugally.

She owns her apartment and car and carefully considers every purchase, she says “Everything is a competition to have the top of the line clothes on your back or the best shoes on your feet, but you don’t know what it really means to have those things until you get that credit card statement,” says Anaferns, 30.

“I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished,” she adds. “But I’d tell people not to get involved with credit cards.”