<prompt> Human: I work for a provider of store brand credit cards think Victorias Secret, Banana Republic, etc.. The average time it takes a customer to pay off a single purchase is six years. And these are cards with an APR of 29.99 typically.  <response>: That makes me sick to my stomach. The longest Ive ever held a balance on one of my store cards was a year. It was due to a trifecta of bad decision, bad luck, and bad timing. Bad decision: I bought a new wardrobe for a new job that required more formal clothes my previous jobs had all been retail or bus car and then the job was not a good fit, and I had to quit after only a few months.Bad luck: My direct supervisor was a sociopath that threatened the employees with physical violence on a pretty much weekly basis.Bad timing: The post 911 recession. NO ONE was hiring office workers in my areas of experience. I wound up working for a temp agency on dailyweekly receptionist assignments and filling in with a variety of retail jobs just to keep myself and my cat in our 450mo studio apartment and work on finishing my up community college AA and keep up on all other bills. Thank the baby Jesus I had no car payments and my student loans were on deferral due to being a student. And at least I was still able to use the skirt suits to look nice at all the temp jobs. 