Debtors Anonymous
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| Founded | 1976 |
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| Location | |
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Area served
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Australia, Bali, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Argentina |
| Mission | "...to stop debting one day at a time and to help other compulsive debtors to stop incurring unsecured debt." |
| Website | debtorsanonymous.org |
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Formerly called
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Penny Pinchers, Capital Builders |
Debtors Anonymous (DA) is a twelve-step program for people who want to stop incurring unsecured debt. Collectively they attend more than 500 weekly meetings in nine countries. Those who compulsively unsecured debt are said to be engaged in debting and are known as compulsive debtors.
DA encourages careful record keeping and monitoring of finances—including purchases, income, and debt payments—to get a clear picture of spending habits. This information is used to develop healthier spending practices, supporting one in keeping a reasonable quality of life while still repaying debt. Similarly, DA recommends developing plans for the future to increase income.
DA's program is intended to facilitate a progressive personality change in its members, ultimately transforming their world views and changing their behaviors. Alternatively, results from an external survey of 46 DA members from 1993-1995 by sociologist Terrell A. Hayes posited that many DA members only partially accept the ideology of the organization and that parts of DA's program, such as stigmatizing labels used to describe members, may actually hinder acceptance of DA's ideology.
In 1968 members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) who believed that their financial difficulties were caused by an addictive disease not unlike alcoholism founded an organization named Penny Pinchers, which they later renamed Capital Builders. The founding members believed their financial problems stemmed from an inability to save money, and they practiced making daily deposits to their savings accounts. Later they recognized their problems were not caused by an inability to save but rather an inability to stay solvent.
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Wikipedia