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When I was in my twenties, I received a lot of checking account overdraft notices from my bank. Each time, shame flooded over me, and even more shame the next day, when I received additional overdraft notifications because of the first overdraft fee.
I didn’t intentionally write bad checks. It’s just that my account was always low, since I had no savings, and I couldn’t get approved for a credit card due to poor credit. I worried constantly about how I’d buy a new car if mine died for good. I even resigned myself to never owning a home.
That’s no way to live. But that’s how a lot of people live.
Financial anxiety causes 28 percent of Americans to feel depressed at least monthly, and 17 percent suffer depression as often as weekly, daily, and even hourly, according to one recent study. Around 42 percent of those surveyed reported “debt” as a source of high or moderate anxiety.
Before I fixed my credit, boosting my credit score to the “excellent” level, the stress I endured from lack of control over finances was ever-present. My inability to procure credit affected where I lived, what companies hired me, how much I traveled (or didn’t) and even who wanted to date me. Does that sound like your life?
