A CreditCards.com poll has found that eight out of 10 Americans are reluctant to talk openly about their level of credit card debt with someone they just met (“Poll: Credit Card Debt the New Taboo Topic,” July 8, 2008). More surveyed adults are uncomfortable with the idea of discussing their credit card debt than any other topic, including their love life, salary, religious views, weight, or age.

Consumer credit counselors say these consumers are not only unwilling to discuss their credit card debt with strangers, they’ll even go to lengths to hide it from their spouse or partner.

“We see people telling us they had the credit card bill sent to a parent’s house, a post office box, or e-mailed instead of going to their homes,” says Michael McAuliffe, president of Family Credit Management, a Chicago-based nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency.

Some people seem even to want to hide their debt from themselves. In over their heads in credit card debt, some consumers will walk into credit counseling centers with bags of unopened credit card bills.

“Some consumers just don’t want to face it,” says McAuliffe.

The CreditCards.com poll, which presented the same 12 topics to a representative sample of 1,000 people, found that financial issues — credit card debt, salary, and housing costs — overwhelmingly dominated the group of topics the respondents were least willing to discuss:

1.	Credit Card Debt	80%
2.	Love Life	78%
3.	Salary	77%
4.	Mortgage / Rent Payment	69%
5.	Health	58%
6.	Death of a Loved One	49%
7.	Weight	47%
8.	Religious Views	37%
9.	Political Views	36%
10.	Age	26%
11.	Gas Prices	13%
12.	Weather	8%

Popularity: 100% [?]

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