Emmy, a 31-year-old living in Los Angeles, has been in a credit card debt cycle — racking up balances, paying a card off and then maxing it out again — since she was 18.
When Emmy, who uses a pseudonym online to protect her privacy, started sharing her debt journey on TikTok in March, her total balanced exceeded $28,000.
“I know this is my fault,” she tells CNBC Make It. “I was always the friend that’d be like, ‘Shots on me,’ or ‘Oh, don’t worry, I got it’ or ‘Just pay me next time,’” she says, adding that she wouldn’t always follow up on requesting friends pay her back.
She’s not alone. Nearly 60% of millennials and Gen Zers say their financial goals have been impacted by social spending, according to a new survey from Ally Bank.
Spending money on time with friends isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, “you’re going to get the highest return on your well-being doing that,” says Jack Howard, head of money wellness at Ally.
