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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NC Consumers Have One of Highest Credit Card Balances in the Country

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Monday, April 25, 2011   

RALEIGH, N.C. - It's not just the state budget that's in the red. North Carolinians are carrying more than $22 billion in credit card debt. That's one of the six largest balances in the country, according to Equifax.

April is Financial Literacy Month, and the founder of the Center for Financial Social Work says there is more to it than learning that a "T-bill" means a treasury bond. Director Reeta Wolfsohn warns that, at a time when the financial stability of families is as important as it has ever been, something is missing from our lessons. Wolfsohn observes that money is an emotional issue, and real financial literacy must deal with that as a way to make permanent change.

"Traditional financial literacy is very much information-driven. And while that's important, neither of those has anything to do with behavioral change."

Wolfsohn likes the model Weight Watchers uses to help people lose weight, because it helps people get closer to the root of the issue.

At least one graduate of the center's program says it helps. Ursulette Huntley is now the program director of Unlimited Future, a business incubator for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She says she uses what she learned to help people without a lot of money go into business for themselves. One key lesson was to look at the money habits she got from her family, she notes.

"I can remember being a kid, my mom writing checks before actually going to deposit her paycheck. So it's like, okay, I can go ahead and spend my money, whether I really have it or not."

Wolfsohn says marketing plays on consumers' emotions, so it's hardly surprising that getting people to change their money habits requires dealing with the same questions.

"I talk about 'take control of your money and gain control of your life,' because there's a very close connection between emotion and money."

The five other states topping the Equifax list for highest consumer credit card balances are California, Florida, Texas, Ohio and Washington.



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