Obama Knows Firsthand About Consumer Debt

By Michelle Singletary
Sunday, June 29, 2008

Far too many people are buckling under the strain of running a household as consumer prices rise, home values decline and banks tighten up on credit. There's such financial distress across the country because of mountains of personal debt that any new president will have a difficult time trying to fix the deep-seated problems.

So do John McCain and Barack Obama, the presumptive presidential candidates, understand the financial hardship of the people they seek to lead in the White House? Can they effectively tackle the issues that are dragging down the economy?

Democratic Sen. Obama carved out some time for me recently to discuss how he would deal with our economic crisis. His Republican counterpart, Sen. McCain, has yet to respond to repeated requests for an interview.

Here's what the candidates are increasingly facing. Every day, I get an e-mail from someone who is either struggling with a job loss; massive credit card, medical or student loan debt; or the prospect of losing a home. Others ask for advice to help make their money last until the end of the month.

I can assist some folks with suggestions on how to better manage their money. But I don't have all the answers that will help them make the money they earn stretch as far as they need to cover all their expenses.

"I live paycheck to paycheck now and won't be able to save like I should," one custodial worker in Delaware wrote to me recently. "I already work two jobs. I've already cut back on everything including food. I know all the right things to do, but sometimes you have to live with doing the wrong thing just to live."

The wrong thing for many has been going deeper into debt.

"I am close to $70,000 on about six to eight credit cards with interest rates from 9 percent to 25 percent," one reader from Cambridge, Mass., told me. "I need some relief."

Another wrote: "I am a 36-year-old single mother. I need to know how is it possible to save money when my bills are more than my bring-home pay. I don't splurge on anything and the clothes we purchase are from thrift stores. Please tell me how can I get ahead if I'm always behind."

These people are representative of the thousands across the country that the presidential candidates will hear from on the campaign trail. The policies of the winner will help determine how the United States turns the corner in this crisis and how the economy performs in the years ahead.

My conversation with Obama began with a discussion of the housing crisis. Obama said his plan is to create a $10 billion foreclosure prevention fund. He said he would underwrite the fund in part with penalties assessed on lenders who act irresponsibly and commit fraud. It would not help people who were speculating or who lied on their mortgage applications, he said.

"I'm interested in making sure people [get help] . . . who are working hard but just found themselves underwater as a consequence of some of these deceptive practices or a lack of clear consumer information," Obama said. "We have to do our best to keep them in their homes. Not just for them but for the community as a whole.

"The sooner we can stabilize the housing market, the better the economy will be."

Obama ticked off a list of his proposed economic fixes: another stimulus package, a universal health-care plan and tax cuts for the middle class.

When discussing consumer debt, Obama had a story to tell that was similar in some respects to that of many people in the country:

Until a few years ago, the candidate and his wife, Michelle, were deep in debt. Together, they were carrying $120,000 in student loans they had taken on to pay for law school.

"We were making payments the size of a mortgage every month," Obama said.

Although Obama acknowledged that he and his wife were blessed to have enough income to service that debt, it wasn't until he wrote two best-selling books, "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," that the couple were able to pay it all off.

Were he to become president, Obama said he would initiate reforms to address "the whole debt industry that has really got people in a financial hole they never dig themselves out of."

I believe that when Obama talks about his family's situation, he gets that we must move away from an economy driven by debt-laden consumers.

Nonetheless, the problems are so large and the changes needed to correct them are so deep and far-reaching -- requiring legislative reforms and shifts in people's financial behavior -- that even a self-proclaimed change-agent president would be sharply tested on this issue.

· On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.

· By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

· By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

Comments and questions are welcome, but because of the volume of mail, personal responses are not always possible. Please note that comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.