Interesting Debt Transcript from CNN's Paula Zahn

Leigh Ann of SaveLeighAnn.BlogSpot.COM was on CNN's Paula Zahn last Tues, July 10 (2007) and I thought it might be interesting to see the transcript for those of us who missed the show for whatever reason.

ZAHN: Americans are running up credit card bills at the fastest pace in six months. The Federal Reserve reports a 9.8 percent increase in credit card debt in the month of May alone, compared with less than one percent the month before. Now that's the big picture. But what we're bringing out in the open tonight is the secret humiliation of nonstop spending, spending that leads to crushing debt. These people are so ashamed their addiction to spending, they're afraid to even show us their faces.

Deborah Feyerick has tonight's edition of "Debtor Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is perhaps the one secret few people talk about.

(on camera): How many of you felt some shame that you had let yourself get into this situation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is huge.

FEYERICK (voice-over): A secret people keep even from those closest to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anyone knew this, they wouldn't think of me as an adult anymore as a responsible person. And it might hurt my business standing, my image, my reputation.

FEYERICK: In an age when sex is spoken about openly, and few subjects are off limits, this one remains taboo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt like a thief.

FEYERICK: which is why these people agreed to speak with us on condition we not show their faces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Jonathan, I'm a debtor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jonathan.

FEYERICK: That's right. The secret is debt. Americans owe a record $880 billion on credit cards alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember one time walking into the BMW dealer to buy a pair of gloves. And so I walked out with the gloves and a new BMW.

FEYERICK: Jonathan owed $225,000 when he attended his first Debtor's Anonymous meeting and discovered he was not alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll have the anxiety about the money. And then you'll manage the anxiety by going and using the credit card and debting more and then it just builds and builds and builds.

FEYERICK: April Lane Benson is the author of the book, "I shop, therefore I am."

(on camera): Is compulsive buying akin to an addiction like alcohol or drugs?

APRIL LANE BENSON, AUTHOR: Very much so. You have to buy more and more to get the same kind of a high. And it gets out of control.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Benson, a psychologist, who treats compulsive shoppers, says there are an estimated 15 million nationwide. More people, she says, than who suffer eating disorders.

(on camera): So, for example this outfit, I will look so perfect that my whole life will come together like, in an instant.

BENSON: Absolutely.

FEYERICK: And they think that was on some level.

BENSON: Mm-hmm.

FEYERICK: Are they filling a need within themselves, an emptiness perhaps.

BENSON: Sometimes it is emptiness.

FEYERICK: Can be anger?

BENSON: It can be anger, it can be boredom, loneliness.

LEIGH ANN FRALEY, DEBTOR: I go shopping to make myself feel better. I was shopping every day. I would have to buy something.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Leigh Ann knew she lost control, from the stacks of unopened credit card bills, to the binge shopping, buying, then returning.

FRALEY: Every time I make more money, I buy more expensive things, you know? I was never where I would actually pay it down or I still living paycheck to paycheck, because the minute you make more money, they'll send you more credit cards, you know.

FEYERICK: Leigh Ann found her road to recovery online with a blog. Writing down every penny she spent and sharing intimate details of her money problems with total strangers.

FRALEY: They're like close, close friends, you know? And because we associate, we found something that we all had in common, you know, that we were in debt.

FEYERICK: Her site Save Leeann started anonymously. Now she's out in the open.

FRALEY: I did it almost every day for a year and got the money paid off in one year and two months.

FEYERICK: Her $20,000 debt is now $3,000 in savings. As for the debtors we met earlier, some paid everything off. Others are still working on it. And all meet regularly to prevent a relapse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, grant me the serenity...

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York. ZAHN: Fascinating.