Debt-related lawsuits jump 49 percent in state

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More Wisconsinites are being sued for their past-due credit card bills and other debts.

Large-money judgment cases rose 49 percent last year in circuit courts around the state and they’re projected to jump another 16 percent this year.

The defendants owe $5,000 or more on credit cards, college and auto loans, medical bills and other things.

Waukesha County, one of the state’s richest, had more money-judgment suits by the end of September than in all of last year.

They’re in line for a 44 percent increase this year.

Just more than half of Waukesha County’s filings in a recent week involved those who stopped paying on their credit cards.

Kathryn Crumpton of Milwaukee’s non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Service says those cards get overused in hard times.

And the drop in home values makes it more difficult to tap home equity lines to manage credit card debt.

Tags: wisconsin news, debt, lawsuits, rising