Debtors Anonymous

Debtors Anonymous, or D.A., is an outgrowth of the enormously successful Alcoholics Anonymous program. Using the same twelve-step approach, D.A. seeks to help compulsive debtors to live one day at a time, without incurring debt.

D.A. meetings typically open with a prayer and a word to newcomers, and then an address by an invited speaker — someone who shares his or her experience struggling to live debt-free. This is usually followed by a discussion, where group members share their own experiences.

Anna has been attending D.A. meetings since May 2000, usually one a week. "The format is precisely modeled on AA, and people speak very confessionally about their lives."

"With me, it wasn't so much compulsive shopping," Anna says. "In D.A. people talk about 'under-earning,' where you don't earn enough to do what you really need to do. My husband and I have never been broke — but I quit my job to write my novel without figuring out how much we really needed to live."

Compulsive debtors are led through twelve steps to recovery, which include:

• admitting their powerlessness over their debt,
• accepting and surrendering to a higher power,
• admitting their wrongs and making amends for any harm they have done,
• and, finally, spreading the word to other compulsive debtors.

Members are expected to:

• refrain from incurring unsecured debt,
• keep records of their income and expenditures, as well as debts,
• preserve the anonymity of themselves and other group members,
• keep in telephone contact with other group members to give and receive support,
• participate in "pressure relief" meetings with more experienced members,
• keep spending plans, for day-to-day spending, and action plans, for resolving debt,
• and attend meetings regularly

"You're supposed to keep a 'spending plan,' as they say in D.A. You're not even supposed to borrow two bucks from a friend for coffee…"

During the summer of 2000 Anna admits she drifted away briefly and got "sloppy" — she wasn't talking to people — but then she stepped up her participation to four meetings a week.