Maxed-Out Debtors Find Credit Crutch

With the economy sagging and 11.8 million credit-card accounts delinquent, support groups are popping up in churches, colleges, and coffee shops to help people curtail their spending and share red-ink horror stories, the Wall Street Journal reports. "It used to be that you had to live in shame about debt," one organizer said. "Now, there's been an awakening."

Meetup.com hosts 138 groups focused on debt management, and one church keeps fishbowls and scissors near its stage, in case someone feels like cutting up particularly nettlesome plastic. Alas, one man found himself unable to pass newfound financial wisdom onto his girlfriend. "She's too fun loving," he says, now single again in dealing with maxed-out cards. "I'm too responsible." (More credit card stories.)