Meet Paul – Chapter 2: Dealing with debt 

Transcript

Text on screen: The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada presents Money Break: A series on financial wellness, Coffee Edition 

(A photo shows a home surrounded by trees.) 

Text on screen: Paul Foster | Poppa Bean 

Chapter 2: Credit cards and debt

(While talking, Paul Foster opens a burlap bag full of coffee beans.)

Paul: So most coffee now is coming in these GrainPro bags. So the premise is that, with the GrainPro, it prevents the beans from getting contaminated from outside sources. 

(Paul sits on a stool inside his garage with an industrial coffee roaster in the background.) 

Paul: Working in the credit card side of things, I was able to identify how people use their credit cards. 

(The image zooms in on a credit card.)

Paul: Like, you'll hear people saying, you know, like, oh, well, my credit card is affordable, it's at 11.99 interest rate; or I got a really good intro offer at 6% or 7%, but then you’ll see the payments in relation to the debt. It just was totally inadequate. 

(A hand is typing numbers on a calculator.)

Paul: People don’t realize that they’re not just borrowing a week in advance; they’re borrowing, like, 2, 3, 4 weeks in advance. People are borrowing almost at this point generationally. So they’re relying on the inheritance to effectively pay off some of these debts.

(Grandparents are sitting in a living room with a baby, and other children or grandchildren.)

Paul: The average household had about four credit cards. And when things are good, they’re all modestly managed so they’re still living on them, but they'd capitalize about maybe 20% of each of their credit cards. And in their mind, they're making payments on each of them, and they're all being managed. 

What tends to happen, though, is around the holidays, special events, whatever… There’s always consumerism, where you’re going to be buying more to celebrate the event. And so what would happen is you’d see the people leveraging all the credit cards or all the lines of credit available to them in hopes that, you know, they’ll be able to get on top of that. 

My experience with debt is that people start dealing with it when it’s too late.

(A couple reviews their bills with their laptop. The image changes and a stressed man looks at his laptop with a pile of bills beside him.)

Paul: People will get to the point where they’re at 105% of their borrowing capacity, over limit, they’re overextended, and they're just in such a negative position that eventually they buckle and they try to get help.

Text on screen:  Poppa Bean Coffee Roastery. Continue Paul’s story in Chapter 3. Paul discusses student loans, savings, and the importance of financial well-being.

(The Canada wordmark appears.)

Off-screen voice: A message from the Government of Canada.

 

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