The US consumer debt pile

Payday loans, auto loans and student loans are overwhelming a sector of American society - what can be done to help them dig their way out of their debts?

Ed Butler speaks to Dean, a military veteran who says his debts wrecked his health and forced him into personal bankruptcy. Plus student Melissa says her inability to keep up with the interest on her student loans, despite working a well remunerated middle class job, is typical of her Millennial generation.

Such stories are becoming commonplace among the young and the poor in the US. In search of solutions to their plights, Ed speaks to Mary Jackson of the Online Lenders' Alliance, Harvard economist Ken Rogoff, and Martha Wunderli of the AAA Fair Credit Foundation in Utah.

(Picture: Senior man receiving bank debt documents; Credit: THEPALMER/Getty Images)