A Debtaholic is an individual who struggles to control his/her borrowing and cannot handle debt except by complete abstinence, but are unable to control the levels at which they borrow.

Lenders are not concerned in lending to debtaholics who have stopped all borrowing. A debtaholic who has not borrowed for a long period subsequent to a credit binge, during which time all the bad material fell off his/her credit report is viewed as a bad credit risk, which they may still be able to obtain a loan that consists of a higher interest rate.