GW ON1SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013 SECTION L

DIRTTHE REAL Tips to help your amaryllis bloom again, L8

Samantha Jones is through with creditcards.

Once her faithful friends, the benign-seeming pieces of plastic once let herlive a luxe lifestyle — but then landedher in $23,000 of debt.

There was no big blowout, says Jones,but throughout her 20s she travelled alot, ate out regularly and bought whatshe wanted without worrying about thecost.

She woke up in her early 30s deep indebt. She knew she had to act.

Despite having a good job working in

an administrative role with a college, atthe end of each month she was left withonly about $20 after paying her bills.

Paying off loans with other loans, shenever missed a payment. But the resi-dent of Scarborough’s Guildwood areawas under enormous stress.

“Even though my bills were alwayspaid, I had this huge amount hangingover me,” she says.

Carrying too much personal debt? You’re not alone. DREAMSTIME PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

That sinking feeling of mounting debtWhy more middle-class Canadians are on the verge ofbankruptcy — and how two women fought their way out JENNIFER HOUGHSPECIAL TO THE STAR

DEBT continued on L9

New book offersguidance on livingwith heart disease

The new gospel from the oracles ofhealth tells us to eat a good amount offat. But not just any fat — the good onesare those from vegetable oils, nuts andfish, and with a few caveats.

The new Heart and Stroke Foundationbook on heart-healthy living, HeartHealth for Canadians, touts the choles-terol-lowering benefits of monounsat-urated fats found in olive oil, the bloodclot preventing power of polyunsaturat-ed omega-3 fat from salmon and mack-

erel, while cautioning against gettingtoo much omega-6 polyunsaturated fatfrom nuts.

What’s the reservation about nuts,which are on most good lists?

“Although omega-6 can help lowerLDL (bad) cholesterol, too much of it isa bad thing,” writes Dr. Beth Abramsonin Heart Health.

“When eaten in large amounts, it canalso lower the HDL (good) cholesterol.”

Abramson steers away from animalfats. She tells us to get our fat fromvegetable oils, nuts and fish.

“I personally eat very little red meat —only once a month!”— but eat lots ofturkey, fish and chicken,” she writes.“Skin off, of course.”

“There’s more of an emphasis on poly-unsaturated fat and omega-3 fats, in-cluding fish two times a week,” agreesCarol Dombrow, a dietician and nutri-tion consultant for the Heart and StrokeFoundation.

“People aren’t eating nearly enoughfish.”

COREY MINTZ SPECIAL TO THE STAR

FAT continued on L10

All hail these healthy fats

A man suddenly clutches his chest, feel-ing the weight of an elephant pressingon him, then keels over in pain. Doctorsrefer to this as a Hollywood heart attack.

But for many, the signs aren’t so dra-matic. The symptoms may not even besudden or severe. There may be chestdiscomfort that can feel like a squeezingor burning sensation. There may bepain radiating through the upper body,below the nose and above the navel. Andthere may be nausea, shortness ofbreath, a feeling light-headedness and acold and clammy feeling.

Understanding how your ticker works— and what can go wrong with it — isessential knowledge for everyone, espe-cially those who have heart disease orare at risk of developing it. The trickything about heart disease — a group ofconditions that affect the heart’s struc-ture and functions — is that people canfind themselves in serious danger be-fore noticing any symptoms.

Toronto cardiologist Dr. Beth Abram-son routinely sees the look of dread andconfusion on the faces of patients whenthey receive a diagnosis of heart disease.The most common condition is coro-nary artery disease, which occurs whenblood vessels to the heart becomeblocked or narrow, restricting the flowof oxygen and blood.

Heart disease is a leading cause ofdeath in Canada, which is why, aftermore than 20 years as a physician andmore than a decade as a volunteerspokesperson for the Heart and StrokeFoundation, Abramson sat down andwrote Heart Health for Canadians: TheDefinitive Guide, in bookstores Jan. 22.

It’s a crash course in heart disease,looking at reducing one’s risk of heartproblems; navigating the health-caresystem, through the various diagnostictests (such as electrocardiograms, stresstests and angiograms); and findingavailable treatments to manage the dis-ease.

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HEART continued on L11

Heartsmart

“We can’tchange ourgenes, so wecan’t changeour familyhistory.But knowingwe’re atincreased riskbecause ofour familyhistory wecan changeour luck bychanging ourlifestyle andour living.”DR. BETHABRAMSON CARDIOLOGIST

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>>LIFE

“I couldn’t sleep sometimes think-ing about it,” Jones says of the debt.“I knew I needed help. It was over-whelming.”

Now 35, she decided to approachConsolidated Credit CounsellingServices of Canada, a non-profitdebt-management agency. Shemakes one payment a month to theagency, which then pays her debts.It negotiated repayment plans onher behalf with her creditors — allbut one of which waived her in-terest fees. In four years, she ex-pects to be debt-free.

Although government bankrupt-cy statistics show that consumerinsolvencies — or bankruptcies —fell by 12.1per cent from September2011 to September 2012, a separatereport from Statistics Canada lastmonth revealed that householddebt levels are at their highest everand have surpassed even the U.S.

For every dollar of after-tax in-come, Canadians now borrow morethan $1.64, or more simply, thosewith about a $10,000 disposable in-come at the end of each year likelyowe more than $16,000.

Such is the concern about mount-ing debt levels, that both PrimeMinister Stephen Harper and Bankof Canada Governor Mark Carneyhave expressed unease, warningCanadians they are carrying toomuch personal debt.

And debt experts who head upnon-profit associations, like the oneJones approached, firmly believethe low bankruptcy figures don’treflect the situation on the ground.

Pat White, executive director ofCredit Counselling Canada, saysone of the reasons for the downturnin the bankruptcy filings is low in-terest rates. “People can renegoti-ate their mortgages with additionaldebt and likely at a lower rate ofinterest. This will solve their finan-cial concerns in the short term untilthe interest rates go up,” she says.

Between 2011and 2012, the agencyhad 8.4 per cent more new counsel-ling cases, and 2.5 per cent morenew debt-repayment programs.The majority of its clients are mar-ried with children. “We are seeingolder clients with debt problems,which is disturbing when we expectthat those heading into retirementshould be debt free,” says White.

Jeffrey Schwartz, the head of Con-solidated Credit Counselling Ser-vices of Canada, says it’s often thepeople who appear to have every-thing that are in the most trouble.

“Money is spent on dining out,entertainment, large cellphonepackages, lifestyles beyond people’smeans,” he says. “We see the impact

on families; the stress on relation-ships, and marriages.

The agency had 20 per cent morepeople seeking its help in 2012 than2011. The average debt of a cliententering the program is $18,070,with an average of about four credi-tors.

“Unfortunately when we see peo-ple, they have reached a crisispoint,” says Schwartz. “There mightbe collection calls, they have boughtfurniture they can’t afford and pay-ment in full is being demanded.”

The biggest threat to Canadiansright now is losing a job, Schwartzsays. “We see people who have nosavings and are living paycheque topaycheque, so any change in in-come sends them over the edge.”

That’s what happened to RajniSingh, 30. When she lost her job in2008, she knew there was going tobe a problem. She owed about$12,000 to $15,000, on a handful ofcredit cards, along with a depart-ment store card with a hefty bal-ance.

“It was overwhelming trying tokeep up with all the installments,”she says. “When I was working, Iwas able to make the payments, butafter I lost my job and started get-ting collection calls, I knew I had todo something.”

A creditor advised her to approachCredit Canada Debt Solutions in2009. They developed a three-yearplan, where she pays $245 a monthto the agency, which then pays hercreditors.

Laurie Cambell, chief executive ofCredit Canada, predicts a “signif-icant rebound” in bankruptcies giv-en that so many are just about keep-ing their heads above water. “Weoften see people with five or sixcards,” she says, adding that theaverage Canadian has three — andshould only have one.

“People say, ‘Oh, you must see a lotof poor people,’ but we don’t really.It’s the middle-income familieswho are being squeezed, becausethey are trying to keep up withmodern living but are really strug-

gling,” she says. “It’s trying to run that second car,

having those extra TVs, getting kidstech products for school. In today’ssociety, these are things that areseen as necessities rather than lux-uries. You don’t want to deny yourchild technology that might helpthem get on better at school.”

Now a year and a half into payingoff her debt, Jones reckons peoplethink she has become a cheapskate.“People have noticed that I don’tspend as much as I used to and theythink I’m cheap, but I know what Ihave and what I can spend.”

Though she is happy with her situ-ation, there is a drawback — hercredit rating will be affected be-cause she sought help.

There is a stigma around being indebt for sure. When one bank wascontacted by the agency, they im-mediately put my card into collec-tions and I thought, ‘Hang on, I’venever missed a payment.’ It was abit shocking to me,” she says.

“If someone hears you are in debtthey think, ‘Oh, she must have beenliving some hedonistic lifestyle,’ butI wasn’t. It was just everydaythings.”

Jones believes it was far too easyfor her to get money that wasn’thers.

“Once I had a good credit rating, Iwas constantly being offered moreand more. It was too much. Whatdo they expect? If you feed some-one too much, they are going to getsick.”

These days, she sticks to cash ordebit.

Singh, who has now paid off all herdebt, agrees there are downsides toseeking help. Even though she’sworking againand finished her planearly, she has to wait another sixmonths before she can apply for acredit card.

“I do want a credit card becauseyou need it for certain things,” shesays. “But this time, I am just goingto have one.”

Household debt at highest level yetDEBT from L1

“We see people who haveno savings and are livingpaycheque to paycheque,so any change in incomesends them over theedge.”JEFFREY SCHWARTZCONSOLIDATED CREDITCOUNSELLING SERVICES OF CANADA

Ontario’s Liberal government re-cently announced a crackdown ondebt-consolidation companies —particularly those who make prom-ises of reducing debt and demandan upfront fee. The province islooking to catch up with Alberta,Nova Scotia and Manitoba, which allhave stricter regulations. The gov-ernment is evaluating a series ofoptions, including a ban on upfrontfees and stricter controls on ad-vertising.

In the meantime, Ontario’s Min-istry of Consumer Services recom-mends people take the followingsteps to protect themselves:á Take your time. Make sure youunderstand all of the terms andconditions of service. Don’t beafraid to ask for extra time to read

the contract over or more informa-tion.á Watch out for false claims.Claims that working with a settle-ment company will have no adverseeffects on your credit rating arefalse, as are guarantees that yourcreditor will reduce your debts. á Know your rights. You have theright to be honestly informed. It’sagainst the law for contracts to bealtered without your consent.á Look for certified credit counsel-lors. The Ontario Association ofCredit Counselling Services and theCanadian Association of CreditCounselling Services are both non-profit groups that provide accredita-tion to counselling services. Look fortheir seal or visit them online formore information.

DEBT CONSOLIDATION MUST-KNOW