Hoarders: Buried in debt

Compulsive behavior overrides financial common sense

By Erica Sandberg

It's easy to spot the home of a hoarder. As many have seen through the popular A&E TV show "Hoarders," people with this mental disorder pile up possessions and never throw anything out, turning their homes into wrecks.

What's less visible is the financial wreckage committed by the estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million hoarders. Their compulsive, incessant acquiring behavior can leave bank accounts as empty as their homes are full.

How hoarding leads to money problems
While most people buy and keep things they don't need occasionally, hoarders go to sad extremes: Bedrooms become impassible due to piles of never-worn clothes, dishwashers get filled with never-read newspapers, and never-played games teeter in stacks that near the ceiling.

The financial impact, however, is often just as distressing. "About 75 percent of people with hoarding problems buy excessively, with over half qualifying for a diagnosis of compulsive buying," says Randy Frost, professor of psychology at Smith College and author of "Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things." "Hoarders tend to have lots of credit cards and pile up huge credit card debt," says Frost.

Janet LaCava, from Daly City, Calif., understands how damaging compulsive buying and hoarding can be. Her mother lived in profound financial stress because of it. "She would buy a lot of dumb stuff off the home shopping channel. Hairpieces, hair care products, figurines of angels," says LaCava. Each ordered item added to her mom's debt and disarray.

But it's not just credit card debt that becomes problematic, says Michael A. Tompkins, author of "Digging Out: Helping your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring." Many times power and gas are turned off, too. "Their homes fall into disrepair, things start to fall apart," says Tompkins. "Their primary asset slowly begins to unravel."

To worsen matters, hoarders typically have great difficulty organizing their possessions, especially paperwork, says Frost. "The volume of clutter and disorganization means they can't find bills, receipts and even the checkbook when they need them. Consequently, bills don't get paid on time, paychecks get lost, receipts necessary for reimbursements never get found."

Friends and family members affected
A hoarder's bills often burden friends and family members. "If you have a loved one who is facing eviction because of the hoarding problem, you have a problem, too," says Tompkins. "You have to ask yourself, 'Do I permit my mother or father to live on the street -- or live with me and take their hoarding problem with them?' That's a tough spot to be in."

LaCava experienced such pressure firsthand. When her mom would run out of funds, she'd turn to her daughter. "She would call and ask for money for gas and other things," says LaCava, who paid for what she could, but it wasn't always enough. "I could barely afford to pay my own expenses," she says.

Financial and psychological help
For the financial concerns related to hoarding, "the only really safe way to safeguard their money is to get treated for the compulsive buying and hoarding," says Frost.

The compulsive-acquiring aspect is treatable with a laddered approach, says Tompkins. For instance, a therapist may first do "drive-by shopping" with the patient, just cruising past a favorite store. "The next step is sitting in the parking lot, looking at the store; the next is going into the store and stepping back out again," says Tompkins. The ultimate goal is to get the person comfortable with not shopping, and to make decisions quickly and effectively. The International Obsessive Compulsive Foundation offers a list of treatment resources.

Professional organizers have merit, too, as they work with the person to categorize each item and decide what stays and what goes. As a motivator, Monica Friel, president of the Chicago-based company Chaos to Order and consultant for the TV show, "Hoarding: Buried Alive," says most hoarders locate assets and long-lost financial documents amid the mess. She recently helped someone discover $11,000 worth of bonds.

See related: Credit card addiction: How to break the spending cycle, Q&A: Avis Cardella writes on overcoming shopping addiction, Severe debt can cause depression and even suicide

Published: October 20, 2010

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