This is a really desperate credit card story.

Laurie Redmond thought she was making a smart decision when she quit her job in 2005 to become a mortgage broker. Her company, a large bank, had recently been bought out, and layoffs were imminent. Rather than compete with hundreds of other job seekers in the same profession.

Until then, Redmond, of Wilmington, Del., had been prudent with money. A single mother, she earned a good salary and spent less than she made. Her savings included several CDs and a money-market account totaling about $7,000; a $2,500 savings bond for her toddler, Cindy; and another $7,000 in a 401(k). She paid off the balance on her two credit cards faithfully every month.

The new job, which was based entirely on commissions, was "the biggest financial mistake of my life," she says. Over the next 12 months, as home sales and mortgage lending were beginning to plateau, Redmond earned $16,000 -- less than a third of her former salary -- and shelled out more than $1,000 a month in marketing expenses.

Determined to make the job work, "I hit my savings," says Redmond. During that year, she ran through all of it, including the savings bond -- redeemed for a fraction of the face amount -- and her 401(k), on which she had to pay taxes and a 10% penalty for early withdrawal. After those accounts bled out, she turned to credit cards. Redmond ended up with eight cards. On one, the card company yanked Redmond's credit and then set a hair-raising 33% rate on her balance.



Her situation is reflective of many Americans, especially those working in the finance sector.