Years after Toni Potter’s husband passed away from pancreatic cancer, debt collectors in her state of Washington were still relentlessly hounding her about his hospital bills.<\/p>\n
Andrea Anderson, a young student in Oregon, has been saddled with $150,000 in college loans as she pursues her dream of becoming a social worker. She knows she’ll be paying the loans back for decades, threatening her other dreams of buying a home or starting a family.<\/p>\n
Linda Mock of Idaho was trapped by a payday loan that quickly grew from the original $300 to more than $900 in interest alone. Trying to break free of the debt, she took out a title loan on her car and ended up losing her only transportation.<\/p>\n
Family debt is no personal failing \u2013 it’s a national crisis. Even as unemployment declines, the debt crisis is holding back a full economic recovery and pushing more people into poverty.<\/p>\n
That’s why President Barack Obama\u00a0announced recently<\/a>\u00a0that he’s instructed the Department of Education and other federal agencies to do more to help borrowers afford their monthly loan payments.<\/p>\n It’s\u00a0a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n