June Black's financial problems began when she put charges for a doctor visit, medical tests and prescription drugs on her credit card but couldn't pay the full balance of about $300. 

A series of late fees and finance charges followed. Three years later, Black, 71, is more than $6,000 in debt. The Riverside (Southern California) woman sold her car, moved to a smaller, cheaper apartment and writes a $127 check each month to pay off a credit card that she long ago cut up. She said she feels an obligation to pay something. 

Yet with the 32.24 percent interest rate that her credit-card company charges, Black has little hope of ever becoming solvent. 

"It just keeps spiraling," Black said of her debt. "I figure I'm going to die before this gets taken care of." 

Faced with large increases in health care and housing costs, and often surviving on a Social Security check that is, on average, below the minimum wage, an increasing number of seniors are falling into debt. 

A study to be released later this month by the New York-based research and advocacy group Demos shows that credit-card debt for people over 65 grew more quickly between 1989 and 2004 than for any other age group. Other recent studies also have found big increases in seniors' debt and bankruptcy rates. 

"I think it's going to get worse," said Tamara Draut, co-author of the Demos report. "We're seeing more economic insecurity in people's working lives, and that will only spill over into retirement life." 

A September 2006 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute found that the median amount of debt – including housing debt – for a family headed by someone 55 or older rose 121 percent between 1992 and 2004, to $32,000. The increases were greatest among people 75 and older, and among the poor. The institute is a nonpartisan research and education group focusing on employee benefits and economic security. 

An institute report released last month found that Social Security comprised 91 percent of the income for the poorest 25 percent of U.S. seniors. The same report found that the median inflation-adjusted annual income for those 65 and older fell 3 percent between 1999 and 2005, to $15,422. 

Studies by the institute and other groups have found that seniors are still less likely than younger people to face debt. But the gap is narrowing. 

In 1994, people 55 and older comprised 9.6 percent of bankruptcy filers, according to a report released last month by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. By 2002, their share had risen to 14 percent. That's an increase of 46 percent, even though older Americans' proportion of the population only rose 3 percent during that time. 

Bankruptcies on Rise 

Harvard University's Consumer Bankruptcy Project found in 2001 that the number of bankruptcies among seniors in the previous decade soared 244 percent, by far the biggest rise among any age group. The project is planning to release updated statistics later this year. 

Deborah Thorne, director of the project, expects the trend to continue. Many older Americans are not healthy enough to work and have no way of handling increasing expenses, she said. Far fewer retirees today receive pensions than in the past. 

"They're locked into a corner," Thorne said. "They don't really have options. My guess is you'll see millions and millions of people retiring into debt." 

With a $775 monthly Social Security check as her only income and a $735 monthly rent payment for her San Bernardino apartment, Sandra Earle long ago gave up trying to pay off her credit-card debt, which she estimates is now more than $20,000. 

"We dream about having a perfect place with a porch to sit on," Earle, 65, said of old age. "But you can't have that no more. I know I can't have that, and a lot of people are like that. They can't even eat." 

Waiting List for Section 8 

Earle gets almost all her food from church programs, Meals on Wheels and subsidized meals at the city's Fifth Street Senior Center. She earns a few extra dollars by running errands for neighbors. Earle said she has been on a waiting list for more than four years for Section 8, a federal subsidized-housing program. 

Earle never had a credit card until about five years ago. She said she always sent in at least the minimum payment for her five cards, not realizing that just sending in the minimum payment -- instead of the full balance -- could lead to high interest charges. 

Many seniors receive credit-card solicitations in the mail and don't realize how easy it is to quickly fall behind on payments, said Sally Hurme, a senior project manager in the financial security department of AARP, the 37-million-member group for people 50 and older. 

"The quicksand of the finer details of the credit-card contract can gobble alive people who are not savvy about credit cards," Hurme said. "I'm a lawyer, and I'd be hard-pressed to explain all of the fine print." 

Kym Adams, a Hemet document preparer who has helped seniors file for bankruptcy, said some seniors fall into debt after cashing credit-card company checks that often carry hefty interest rates and fees. 

"They tell me they received a blank check and it was so tempting," Adams said. "They said they realized when they got the check they wouldn't be able to pay it, but they say, 'My car broke down and I needed to pay for it. All I've got is $600 a month in Social Security.' I can hear the cry in their hearts for more money." 

Credit cards are not meant to be used for long-term loans, said Tracey Mills, spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association, a trade group that represents credit-card companies. Interest charges and fees are necessary to reduce card companies' risk of losing money from nonpayment of bills, she said. The group encourages consumers to compare rates. 

Many seniors grew up with a pay-as-you-go ethos and are shocked and embarrassed to find themselves in debt, said Marilyn Lynch, an adviser at the Janet Goeske Senior Center in Riverside. She said at least a half-dozen seniors at the center have sat down to talk with her about their debt problems over the past three years. She suspects the real number of indebted center patrons is much higher, because many seniors are ashamed to acknowledge they're in debt. 

Annie Vasquez, 79, recalled how her parents were devastated by debt during the Great Depression. The San Bernardino woman has always heeded their warning to do everything possible to avoid the same fate. 

Yet she and her husband Joe, 82, have endless health expenses. Vasquez said she constantly worries that one unexpected medical emergency could push them into the red. 

"They say being a senior is the golden years," Vasquez said. "I'd do anything to be 50. Being old is for the birds." 

Delayed Retirement 

Seniors' financial crunch has forced many to delay their retirement plans and work well into old age, Hurme said. The longtime trend of people retiring earlier and earlier has reversed in the past few years, she said. That's partly because an increasing number of older Americans are choosing to work longer. But many have no choice, she said. 

And homes don't offer the same type of financial security that they used to, Hurme said. Seniors who owned homes typically entered retirement with no mortgage payments, she said. Today, many people who are at or near retirement age use their home equity to take out loans. And mortgage payments are much higher. 

Many people underestimate how much money they need to save for retirement, said Richard Pittman, housing services coordinator for By Design Financial Solutions, a Commerce-based nonprofit credit-counseling service with an office in San Bernardino. Others don't earn enough to save. Expenses that are reasonable during working years become onerous after retirement, he said. 

"If you're relying on a Social Security check, God help you if you have to pay rent," Pittman said. 

Some seniors increasingly rely on high-interest payday loans and are unable to pay them back, he said. 

Targets of Scams 

Elisabeth Sackmann, supervisor for the Banning Senior Center, said she regularly talks with seniors who are targets of scams. Many seniors are especially vulnerable to fraud – such as giving out a bank-account number to receive money won in a "contest" – because they are desperately lonely, she said. 

"They have nobody to talk to except maybe their pet, and someone is interested in them and interested in what they have to say," she said. 

Some seniors fall into debt because they had depended on their spouses to manage money and have a hard time dealing with bills after the spouses die, said Judith Vails, executive director of the Goeske center. 

Sara Jamison said she inherited about $5,000 in credit-card debt that her husband, Richard, accumulated before he died last year at age 67. Her name was on the accounts. The Grand Terrace woman also owes more than $3,000 for hospital expenses for visits in March and in 2005. 

Jamison is 54, but a back problem prevents her from getting a full-time job. She said she applied for Social Security disability and widow benefits but was turned down. She is appealing the decision. 

Jamison said her daughter pays her rent for now, but she won't be able to do so much longer. She said she fears she'll spend her old age on the streets. 

"It makes me cry," Jamison said. "I get depressed. Sometimes I want to die. What do I do in this situation? I don't have many options."