When I was just starting out in my newspaper career, I had all the classic signs of a promising young professional: a lopsided necktie, zero savings, and enough credit card debt to fund a small used car lot.

It didn’t exist as a term yet, but I was ALICE — Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. I had a job, sure, but not one that supported what I considered, at the time, a barely livable lifestyle. (Let’s just say “livable” included concert tickets, cable TV, and the occasional name-brand golf ball.)

Like many ALICE families today, I relied on credit cards not for luxury, but for survival. I played the balance transfer shuffle month after month, desperately trying to buy time — and dignity — with a 0% introductory APR.

It was stressful. I lived with constant fear that one unexpected expense — a blown tire, a surprise rent hike, or a buddy’s last-minute invite to a golf trip in Myrtle Beach — would blow up my budget.

Luckily, I was 23, single, and had a metabolism that could turn ramen into rocket fuel. Before long, I got a promotion and finally stepped into a middle-class salary. And just like that, credit cards went from being a financial flotation device to a full-blown rewards machine.

These days, I still use credit cards — not out of desperation, but because it’s easier than mailing checks, and let’s be honest, the perks don’t hurt: hotel upgrades, airport lounges, cashback offers, and the occasional free flight.

Would Dave Ramsey approve? Absolutely not. But for me, credit cards are a tool of convenience, one that makes life a little easier, a little smoother, a little more… Delta Sky Club.

But here’s the question that hit me recently:

What would it feel like to use a credit card not for perks… but just to buy groceries? Not out of convenience, but because I simply didn’t have the cash in the bank to feed my family? 

That’s the everyday reality for more and more ALICE families. As wages lag behind inflation and interest rates soar, credit cards are once again becoming a lifeline, not a luxury.

Right now, Americans carry more than $1.2 trillion in credit card debt, a record high. And the number of people falling behind on payments? It's back to where it was after the Great Recession. Even worse, serious delinquency rates are climbing fastest among ALICE households under 40.

As The Atlantic’s Annie Lowrey put it, the credit card economy has split in two: one side offers luxury perks to the affluent, the other traps working families in cycles of high-interest debt. And while I might bristle a bit at being called “wealthy” just because I get a free checked bag, her point stands: The perks you and I enjoy are often subsidized by ALICE families paying 22.69% interest just to make it through the month.

So, should you shred your credit cards and cancel your rewards account in protest? No. But should we use this information to better understand the financial tightrope ALICE families walk every day? Absolutely.

That’s why UWCG has set a bold goal: help move 10,000 ALICE families in our region towards financial stability over the next 10 years.

We’re starting by investing in financial literacy. In the coming weeks, we’ll share results from our first-ever personal finance class for ALICE families — real stories of people who took the first steps toward financial freedom.

I hope you’ll stay tuned. Better yet — I hope you’ll join us.

Because for ALICE families in our community, it's not about points and perks. It’s about peace of mind.