Daily Archives: December 23, 2008

Shock and All

by Hans Eisenbeis
This week, I got into an argument with a colleague at a local publication. He said, “There’s no way you can tell me that thrift is cool, like some kind of trend or something. Consumers are just in shock at what’s happened to the economy.” So the argument went: frugality chic vs. consumer [...]

Credit counseling explodes as consumers get desperate

by Hans Eisenbesis
WHAT’S HAPPENING

One business that’s taken off like a rocket in this recession is credit counseling. The National Foundation of Credit Counseling says that calls to credit counselors are up 30% this year, and the month of October saw a 70% spike over last year (Blogs.WSJ.com/wallet 11.21.08).
The NFCC, representing the nation’s non-profit counseling agencies, [...]