Summary of MTV True Life: I’m In Debt

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Last night the wife and I sat down to watch MTV True Life: I’m in debt. This news documentary followed three twenty-somethings and their struggles with debt. MTV did a good job picking the least sympathetic people to follow. Be prepared for some snarky remarks.

First, we have Amy, a twenty-two year old who as accumulated $14,000 worth of credit card debt. She has been able to make payments and as a consequence she has creditors calling her all day, everyday. She works for an “up and coming” model agency/recording studio called Lifestyle. In reality it was three dudes working out of their house. She never got paid. Idiot. Her dad suggests getting a job with the city. Good pay, nice benefits, everything she needs to get her out of debt. No dice. According to Amy, a job with a city would “take too much time.” What? Can somebody smack this kid? There was this one scene where she was working on her resume with her mom, but then her friends came over. What did Amy do? She left and let her mom finish her resume for her. By the end of the show, Amy finally found a job after being unemployed for six months. She’s now working at a health club.

Next, we have twenty five year old Daniel. Out of the three girls, she seemed to have her head on her shoulders the most. Her problem was that she bought a condo when things were going well for her financially. But she lost her job and is now having trouble paying her mortgage. She works at a bar and makes decent money there. She has also taken to eating frugally. Her diet consists of Ramen and tuna fish. By the end of the show, she was making enough to pay mortgage on time.

Finally, we have twenty-one year old Ashley. Out of the three girls, she frustrated me the most. She accumulated over $20,000 in credit card debt and can’t make the payments because she’s only working part time. Instead of taking on a second job to help pay off her debts, what does Ashley decide to do? What any responsible American would do. File chapter 7 bankruptcy. What killed me is that she went to a credit counselor and developed a plan so she could consolidate her debt and still have money to live off of. However, for Ashley that was going to take too long and the money left over wasn’t enough for her. The girl was living with her parents, so didn’t have to worry about expenses. She just wanted more disposable income. I can’t believe she sacrificed her credit score for the next ten years, which could consequently effect her ability to get a job or rent an apartment, just so she could go tanning. Idiot.

I can’t believe how stupid people are with money, especially people from my generation. What’s the walk away lesson from the show?

1. Limit your spending.
2. Get a job or even a second.
3. Get an education.
4. Don’t incur more debt.

Nothing new here. You’d think this is basic financial advice, but for many young people it’s advanced quantum physics.

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22 Comments

1. poor Wealth » Blog Archive » I’m in Debt on 11.03.2007 at 15:30

   […] Summary of MTV True Life: I’m In Debt […]

2. 79th Carnival of Debt Reduction (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) on 19.03.2007 at 03:56

   […] this, I would like to invite all of you to the auditorium to watch a report on Summary of MTV True Life - I’m in Debt by Frugal Law Student. The Frugal Law Student will talk about a show on MTV about how young people get into debt. Let me […]

3. Susanna on 21.03.2007 at 06:31 (Reply)

   Thanks for the recap. The dollar amount of those debts astounds me.

   My husband accumulated quite a bit of credit card debt as an undergrad before we were married. Almost ten years later we are finally close to paying it off, and it wasn’t even half of what these girls had.

   These girls will regret their bad decisions eventually, especially if their parents stop enabling them.

4. The Frugal Law Student on 21.03.2007 at 06:49 (Reply)

   Congratulations on almost paying off your debt, Susanna! Yeah, those girls have tough row to hoe for the rest of their lives. I couldn’t believe Ashley’s parents allowed her to file for bankruptcy. How did she pay for the attorney if she was already in debt? Her parents had to have helped with the fees.

5. Donna on 12.04.2007 at 09:45 (Reply)

   I am the parent and no I didn’t pay for the lawyer. You people act like she killed someone.

6. The Frugal Law Student on 12.04.2007 at 19:22 (Reply)

   Thanks for stopping by, Donna. While your daughter didn’t kill someone, what she did was extremely irresponsible. Declaring bankruptcy hurts businesses because they’re not going to get all the money owed to them. They take a hit. Because businesses don’t get all the money owed to them, in order to make up for it, they have to raise prices for goods or services, which consumers have to pay.

   While your daughter’s bankruptcy probably didn’t have a direct effect on raising consumer prices, her action added to the thousands of other people who declare bankruptcy does. That’s why I get upset when people file for bankruptcy. It hurts business and I end up paying for it. What made your daughter’s choice so frustrating was that she could have avoided bankruptcy by consolidating her debts and budgeting.

   I hope things are going better for your daughter. I’d be interested in another follow-up. I think it was pretty brave of her to put her life out there like that on MTV. Hopefully, other young people can learn from her experience.

7. Donna on 13.04.2007 at 11:23 (Reply)

   The fact that you say it hurts businesses because they dont get all the money owed to them…well maybe they should look at how they give this credit out. they need to take the blame for all the bankrupty’s not just the people charging…..lets see why would a teenager (up to 19 is a teenager) even young 20’s…why would they need more than 1 or two credit cards….rather then sending everyone 10 offers a month….if you are a certain age a flag should come up on your credit file and you should not be allowed any more cards until …. or if you are at a certain limit…a flag should come up …instead they use the credit file to see you have good credit on that 1 or 2 cards then send you offers for hundreds of them in a years time….oh yeah lets talk about the interest rate most of them charge. they are not just making a profit…they are totally ripping people off. if you pay just the minimum at the rates they charge you pay back 3 sometimes 4 times the amount you owe. oh yeah wait….what about the people who fall on hard times for a month or two…..25 late fee, 25 account inquiry fee, 50 over limit fee. do this a few months in a row and your done. your 1000 credit balance that you are trying to pay suddenly turns to 2000 from their fees. no wonder you get to a point you can’t pay. oh one more thing you didnt have the money to pay the bill through mail when received but you know you will have the money before the due date so you try to call in a payment of the phone….most places now charge between 7 and 15 dollars to make that payment. so in my opinion…..i think the businesses have more fault than the irresponsible teenager or ADULT that has to fall on bankruptcy when they loose a job. You said it is the businesses that lose money, Yeah right! They are making millions off 18-21 yr olds!

8. bigga on 13.04.2007 at 11:59 (Reply)

   i love ashley

9. Jim on 14.04.2007 at 06:52 (Reply)

   To the Frugal Law Student,
   I am Ashley’s Dad and I’m going to go out on a limb here. Since you are a law student, you obviously believe in free speech since you gave your opinion that my daughter is an “IDIOT”.
   I’m sure that after you pass the bar exam and are a practiceing attorney, you might someday be representing an “Ashley”. You may be a criminal lawyer and represent people with questionable character. Will you refer to them as “IDIOTS” also? Maybe you should consider another line of work. You could become a radio personality and take the place of Don Imus.
   My opinion is that at least one of your parents is a professional. You don’t know what it’s like to go without. Your education is probably paid for. You sound like a spoiled little rich kid.
   How does it feel to have someone pass judgement on you? Do you get my point?
   I think that you should climb down from that high horse before you fall. It’s a long way down.

10. The Frugal Law Student on 14.04.2007 at 08:04 (Reply)

    Jim,
    First, I’m not a spoiled rich kid. I’ve paid for both my undergrad and law school education myself. I worked all throughout high school and college to save money to pay for my education. I even earned enough to buy a crappy car. In order to cut down on costs, I sold my car when I got married, and now my wife and I share a car. I’ve budgeted and stuck to it. So, I’ve made sacrifices to get to where I am.

    I don’t plan on representing people who declare bankruptcy or criminals. I’m planning to take a government job, so I’ll be going after the bad guys.

    Alright, I’ll concede that idiot might have been too strong a word. I’ll apologize for that, but I’m still sticking with my opinion that what Ashley did was irresponsible.

    Reasonable minds can differ, but I don’t buy into the “Credit Card companies prey on young people” line of thought. Yes, they heavily advertise them. I’ve been through undergrad and was offered free t shirts and other offers to sign up with a credit cards all the time. I still get offers for insane amounts of credit lines in the mail. Did I sign up for them? No. In the end, I think people should be responsible for their own decisions, and not push the blame on someone else. But, again I think reasonable minds can differ, and Donna makes a good argument that credit card companies are irresponsible when issuing credit to young people.

    I still stand by my argument that consumers declaring bankruptcy hurts other consumers. The high fees and interest rates are a consequence of that.

11. The Student LoanDown: Student loans archives on 22.04.2007 at 06:15

    […] sought therapy in the form of other bloggers, like Young and Broke  and the Frugal Law Student , who’d had reactions similar to mine. But here’s my question: does a program like this serve […]

12. Carnival of Debt Reduction #79 is Up at Ask Mr. Credit | The Frugal Law Student on 18.05.2007 at 21:51

    […] and check out this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction. Mr. Credit was kind enough to include my summary of MTV’s I’m In Debt Summary. Ask Mr. Credit has done an excellent job creating a fun University of Debt Reduction theme for the […]

13. J on 26.07.2007 at 13:37 (Reply)

    Give me a break. People who cry about getting too much credit really are idiots. I suppose if I offered you too much ice cream and then you got a stomach ache from eating it, you would blame me for your aching belly. This is the exact same type of argument. It sure looks ridiculous when it’s simplified for people who can’t do elementary school math. Nineteen or ninety, your daughter is an adult. If you don’t think she can handle all that credit as a responsbile adult, then you should take some responsbility for her and control her spending. What the hell is wrong with people. Raise a kid who does well, it’s all because of your parenting skills. Raise a kid that messes up, I (the parents) have nothing to do with it. Here’s a last piece of general knowledge you might want to impart to your daughter: Every charge she makes on a credit card is not “free money.” Signing your name on the receipt means you will pay back the actual amount on the receipt. Sheesh.

14. Glen on 29.07.2007 at 14:28 (Reply)

    Very interesting comments. I can assure everyone that The Frugal Law Student is not a spoiloed rich kid. In fact, he is one of the most responsible people his age that I have ever met (I’m 12 years older, going to law school as a second career).

    J’s comments about the parenting of these irresponsible people is generally true. While everyone has their own free will, most irresponsible spenders learned it from somewhere or were “enabled” by someone.

    It’s disheartening the sense of entitlement that soem people have, that they deserve all nice things in life, but they shouldn’t be forced to pay for all those things.

    I went to college for two years on student loans. After realizing how much money I already owed, I started working full-time while still going to school full-time. It can be done, just like paying off the credit cards they’ve accumulated, but some people have too little self-discipline to do it.

15. Donna on 08.08.2007 at 19:22 (Reply)

    This comment is to JJJJJ! So, lets see, it is my fault that my daughter had to file bankruptcy. I work at a Fortune 500 company and she sees that I go to work and pay my bills as she is growing up. I instill in her that she should do the same and that money doesn’t grow on trees. I work hard for my weekly paycheck can hardly justify that it was my parenting skills that have failed! I have another daughter that is highly successful. She has a college degree from a well known institution and a career in the medical field. And by no means am I saying that it was just parenting skills that made her the professional that she is today but I don’t think it is fair to blame me for another child that had made poor decisions and that is hopefully learning from her mistakes! Every child is different even though they come from the same family. My two daughters have lived in a loving and hard working family and to say that it all our fault what Ashley has gone through is totally unfair. In a world with so many things that kids could get involved with and ruin their lives I don’t think that this is the worst thing that could have happened!

16. J on 09.08.2007 at 10:21 (Reply)

    Donna. I do apologize for attacking your parenting skills. It’s just there is really no way you can put all the blame on the credit card companies. Your daughter made a lot of bad decisions, including declaring bankruptcy when it seemed she had a manageable payment plan. Is your “teenager” an adult or a teenager? You’ll find very few people on this board who are sympathetic to the “all credit card companies are at fault” argument. Most businesses exist to extract as much money from their customers as possible (especially banks). The customer is always right is a damn joke. Businesses are there to make money. it’s our responsibility as consumers to exercise our power and put restraints on them via our government. However, If your 19 year old daughter is too irresponsible to handle her credit, she is the only one truly responsible for not being adult and reading the fine print. Again, I’m just questioning your line of argument. I too hope she has learned a hard lesson from all of this. But I would venture it’s best that she never use credit cards again, instead of reworking all of credit lending based on one irresponsible young adult. Lastly Donna, it’s pretty pointless to try and defend yourself after having you and your daughter appear on an MTV special. That’s about the same as appearing on Judge Judy and The People’s Court. No one should take any lessons away from an MTV show.

17. Donna on 09.08.2007 at 16:29 (Reply)

    J, The one thing I agree with you is that she should not use credit cards again for a very long time or perhaps never! I guess we will have to wait and see if she has learned when and if credit should be used in the future. When I was approached about the MTV show I went into it hoping that maybe Ashley would learn from it and the mistakes she had made. As for shows like Judge Judy and People’s Court they are all trying to gain something from going on them. We had nothing to gain from this. I do not know how old you are or if you have children but I can honestly say that my husband and I thought that somehow by doing the show would be a wake up call for her. Of course some of the things they show are edited and come across in a negative light. We are only human and maybe by filming it might have not been the greatest decision but it was a true story of what we were dealing with and how we handled it.

18. The Best of Frugal Law Student 2007 | The Frugal Law Student on 31.12.2007 at 10:21

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19. BRITTNEY on 10.01.2008 at 13:23 (Reply)

    H0W D0 PE0PLE GiT iN SO MUCH DEBT iT’S BEY0ND STUPiD..
    PE0PLE WiTH SH0PPiNG ADDiCTi0NS NEED T0 W0RK THAT 0UT BUT F0R 0THERS TRYiNG T0 SUPP0RT THEiR BiG FAMiLiES i UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE GOiNG THR0UGH!

    1. Brett McKay on 10.01.2008 at 13:28 (Reply)

       Thanks for commenting Brittney. For future reference, typing your comments in mixed caps and lower case letters isn’t appreciated by most people. It looks like a monkey typed it. You’re not a monkey now, are you?

20. AMY ACEVEDO on 25.03.2008 at 21:08 (Reply)

    FIRST OF ALL LOSER WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT??? YOU DONT KNOW ME!! YOU SHOULD SHUT YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT.” WHAT CAN SOMEBODY SMACK THIS KID?” WHO ARE YOUR CALLING A KID??? FIRST OF ALL ILL SMACK THE TASTE OUT OF YOUR MOUTH! IM AN ADULT KEEP MY NAME OUT OF YOUR FAT MOUTH!! GET A LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE BETTER TO DO THEN TO LIVE OFF MOMMY AND DADDYS MONEY..YOUR PATHETIC AND IF THERE IS A PROBLEM LET ME KNOW SO I CAN INFORM MY LAWYER..MAYBE YOU NEED A GIRLFRIEND YOU PATHETIC LOSSSERRRR..SO YOU WOULDNT HAVE THAT MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS..A.HOLE!!
    AMY ACEVEDO

    1. Jill on 30.09.2008 at 08:21 (Reply)

       Woah….I’ve seen this Amy Acevedo post on various blogs - she always seems very angry, ghetto and uneducated. Who takes the time to go online and yell at people you don’t know? Amy - I’ve seen you post on various blogs about Britney Spears - each time, you write in all capital letters and let everyone else know how stupid and pathetic you are. Very entertaining, though. Ha ha, loser.

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