Family Credit

Nearly 175 million Americans carried credit card debt into the 2025 holiday season, and for many, the new year brought a familiar resolution: this is the year things change. CNBC published an in-depth guide to making that resolution stick, and Family Credit Management President and Founder Michael McAuliffe was among the featured experts, with his background and experience highlighted in the article's dedicated expert spotlight.

The piece walks through six approaches to tackling debt, ranging from the debt snowball and avalanche methods to balance transfer cards, consolidation loans, credit counseling, and debt settlement. McAuliffe's perspective threads through several of these strategies, and his central message is one that applies regardless of which path someone chooses: income matters far less than discipline.

He offered a clear-eyed take on why balance transfers and consolidation loans so often fail to deliver lasting results. The math may work in your favor, but if the underlying spending behavior does not change, the cleared balance simply becomes an invitation to start over. His advice for anyone pursuing those options was direct: close the card and commit to behavior change, not just a new payment plan.

McAuliffe also addressed the value of nonprofit credit counseling for people who have tried other approaches and still cannot make meaningful progress on their debt. By working directly with creditors to lower interest rates, a credit counseling agency can dramatically reduce both the time and total cost of paying off what someone owes, without the credit damage that comes with debt settlement.

For anyone serious about making 2026 a turning point, this piece is one of the more thorough and practical resources available.

Read the full article at CNBC.