There’s no universal dollar amount that makes debt a “problem.” According to Bruce McClary of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), what matters more is whether you understand what you owe, can keep up with your payments and still have enough room in your budget to manage everything else.
You may still be making your payments on time. Your balances may not seem completely out of control. But if your debt is starting to feel harder to manage (or harder to ignore), it’s time to take a closer look. The warning signs often show up in your finances and your behavior before you’re ready to acknowledge that your debt has become a problem.
We asked McClary what those warning signs look like, what typically prompts people to seek…