Hey everyone, and welcome to our Debt Podcast, for Thursday, December 1, 2005. Happy December everybody, and we are definitely in the thick of the holiday shopping season. I know that this past Friday was Black Friday. This Monday was Cyber Monday, and people have really started racking up their credit cards, throwing them down and putting down the plastic. And as much as I hate to see it happen, you're still going out and doing it. Now, the economy expanded in the third quarter by a rate of 4.3% which was an even faster pace than the 3.8% annual rate that was first reported for the July to September quarter a month ago. Consumer spending grew 4.2% in the third quarter, and it was stronger than the 3.9% growth that was previously estimated. The new figure marked the fastest pace in consumer spending since the final quarter of 2004. That is in spite of the fact that your interest rates are going up, your minimum payments are going up, if you've got an adjustable rate mortgage, over three million people who have adjustable rate mortgages will see their mortgage amounts change within the next 18 months. That's an enormous amount of financial drain.

If you look at our home heating costs for this winter, they are going to go through the roof. Energy costs are just rising exponentially. This is not the time to go out and continue to use your credit cards. There's no good time to continue to use your credit cards, but this time is the worst time. Put that card back in your pocket. Make a homemade gift for a friend or loved one, hold back on the gift giving until you've got the money in your pocket, and you can spend the green. Please, I beg of you, don't put yourself in the face of this perfect storm that is coming down. This tremendous increase in likely credit card delinquencies. And if you think that I am the only one who is forecasting credit card delinquencies to go up, think again. Company called Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation just opened a new Chicago office. Twenty-thousand nine hundred five square foot facility with room for a workforce of more than 200 people, 80% of which will be dedicated to collections activity. If you've ever owed any money to anybody, and if you have ever worked in the consumer finance, or personal finance sector of banking at all, you know Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation is. These folks are debt collectors and debt buyers. They've been expanding steadily over the course of the past couple of years. In fact, they've just unveiled a corporate headquarters in...
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