Damn, some of the people in this thread. To those of you that think it is always the person's fault if they get into debt and they can always pay it back if they really wanted to, just thank God that life hasn't kicked you in the ass hard enough for you to be in that situation. If you are out of work without medical insurance and get sick with a terminal illness that will require you to spend years in and out of hospitals fighting it and too disabled to work it is not your choice, or because you are irresponsible. Obviously, this isn't the case with the majority of situations, but it does happen to many families.