Opinion: Credit Woes for Fellow Boomers

One of the most bracing changes for us baby boomers is not so much a recession -- this is technically our fourth -- but a crunch on credit, our first.

Pals of mine, who are age-appropriate -- let's say late 40s and leave it at that -- are bewildered at the sudden need to produce cash instead of producing plastic. For the generation of Americans who are younger than us boomers -- you tykes who were born in the reign of Reagan, for example -- this is an abrupt 180-degree turn that is more of a shock to the psyche than it is to the wallet.

Some brief background on those of us in the boomer generation is in order here. I was born in 1960 -- at the end of Eisenhower's era -- to parents who were raised during the Depression. This is quite common among boomers. If our parents weren't alive during the Great-Do-Without, then their parents were and they repeatedly ticked off a list of necessities that didn't quite make it into their open palms.

That being the case, most of our parents were determined that we have more than they had. For me, that meant a college education paid for on my parents' saved nickel, and a chance to advance to a greater level of comfort than they had. In truth, that's what all parents want for their kids, on top of how much happiness they can possibly muster.

The trouble, though -- and it's only become a problem recently -- is that while our parents were accustomed to living without credit, we quickly became accustomed to it. And, worse still, we quickly became comfortable with our buddies, the banks -- Citigroup (C Quote), Bank of America (BAC Quote) and Wells Fargo (WFC Quote), just to name a few -- extending credit to us, without us even having to ask.

Is there a boomer among us who has not arrived home at one point in his adult life to find his mailbox stuffed with solicitations for more credit cards? Or how about that welcoming letter from a bank -- on satin-finished stationery, no less -- saying that we were already preapproved for a home-equity loan so we could buy ourselves a new kitchen? The financial services industry even told us how we could use this extra bounty.