Free Financial Advice - Debt Stress

How Debt Can Impact More Than Your Credit Score

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

My daughter is in a lot of debt, from her college loans to her credit cards. I have helped her as much as I can, but she seems unresponsive and acts extremely helpless in the situation, just getting herself in more trouble. She recently broke up with a long-term boyfriend and doesn't seem to have as much of a social life anymore.

Do you think that she needs psychological counseling as well as credit counseling, or are the two things unrelated?

Sincerely,

Financially Sound Father

April Masini's advice:

Dear Financially Sound Father,

Money stress can impact health and it can impact relationships -- something I know about, as a relationship expert. Once relationships are affected, health is affected. And when relationships are affected by debt, there is a trickle down effect onto other relationships.

Debt is not something that people forget. They try to deny it or dodge it or get rid of it, but while it's there, it looms not unlike an illness. The longer people deny or dodge debt, the worse the impact of the stress because now they're not just spending energy worrying about the debt, they're also spending energy denying and/or dodging the debt.