Why being in credit card debt doesn't mean you're bad with money

Why being in credit card debt doesn't mean you're bad with money

Malaka Gharib

October 09, 2025 / 6:09 am

People can feel a lot of shame about being in credit card debt. They think it means they're bad with money. That it's something to avoid, or a burden they can never pay off.

But for financial educator Rita-Soledad Fernández Paulino, founder of Wealth Para Todos , we should simply see debt for what it is. "It's just what we use when we don't have access to cash reserves," she says.

And unfortunately, our assumptions and emotions around debt can prevent us from managing our money with confidence, she says. They can stop us from being honest with ourselves about our financial situation, getting the support we need to pay off our debt or even leveraging debt to our advantage.