Visits to Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Northwest Indiana by people struggling with debt or other issues are up 60 percent this year.
"Basically, we are seeing consumers really just gawking at the gas pump," Stalling said. "They are cutting out a lot of things because they have to get back and forth to work."
And it's not just higher gas prices stressing people out. Higher food and consumer goods prices are squeezing seniors in particular. It's also adding to the problems of the so-called "sandwich generation," who are caring for aging parents and their own children at the same time.
Many seniors are re-entering the work force in order to make ends meet.
The credit counseling service is also seeing more people than ever dealing with the threat of foreclosure.
"It's not just in Gary," Stalling said. "It's in every community that we are seeing people evicted. Then they do not know what to do or how to do it."
