As we head into November, many Americans are feeling financial strain caused by carrying a credit card balance from one month to the next. After all, credit cards are one of the most expensive financing options, with the average credit card interest rate now exceeding 23% — the highest rate on record. That, coupled with the compounding nature of credit card interest, has resulted in significant financial strain for millions of cardholders.

Another issue is that many households continue to feel the lingering effects of inflation on the prices of everyday essentials, despite significant improvements in the inflation rate. This economic pressure has led more people to rely on credit cards to bridge the financial gaps they’re facing. The average person now carries nearly $8,000 in credit card debt, and given how quickly the interest charges can compound, many cardholders are searching for solutions to their escalating debts.

For those facing unexpected financial hardships, a credit card hardship program may be the right move. These assistance programs can provide substantial relief by temporarily reducing interest rates, waiving card fees or lowering monthly payments. However, they’re not automatically available to everyone — and you must meet specific qualification criteria to enroll.

Learn about your credit card debt relief options here.

How to qualify for a credit card hardship program this November

If you’re considering applying for a credit card hardship program, here’s how to get started:

Identify your financial hardship

Hardship programs are typically designed to assist people who are facing genuine, verifiable financial difficulties, like a recent job loss, high medical bills, a reduction in income or other unexpected events. So before reaching out to your card issuer, take the time to gather documents that support your situation, such as termination notices, hospital or doctor’s bills, pay stubs showing reduced hours or bank statements that highlight financial strain. Being transparent and specific about your financial challenges will make your request more compelling.

Get rid of your high-rate credit card debt now.

Have your financial information ready

You should also be prepared to provide a clear and detailed picture of your current financial situation. This might include a summary of your monthly income, expenses and any other debts you’re managing. Some issuers will request specific forms of documentation, such as recent pay stubs, tax returns or a monthly budget breakdown. Presenting accurate and organized information can strengthen your case and make it easier for the issuer to understand why you need assistance.

Contact your card issuer

Not all credit card companies offer hardship programs, and the terms can vary significantly among those that do. Some issuers may only provide short-term assistance, while others offer longer periods of relief. In order to determine what’s available to you, call the customer service number on the back of your card and ask to speak with someone about financial hardship assistance. Make sure to ask specific questions about eligibility requirements, program terms and the documentation you’ll need to submit.

Demonstrate a willingness to pay

Issuers are more inclined to offer assistance to customers who show a history of responsible debt management. If possible, highlight your past efforts to make timely payments, even if they were partial or occasionally delayed. If you’re experiencing a temporary setback, make sure your lender knows you are committed to paying down your debt once your situation improves. A willingness to work toward repayment, even in small amounts, can improve your chances of being approved for a hardship program.

Apply promptly

Applying promptly, especially if your financial issues are worsening, can increase your chances of securing assistance. Credit card companies sometimes adjust their hardship programs based on the economic climate and customer demand, so reaching out sooner rather than later can give you a better shot at getting approved before stricter criteria or limited availability impact your chances.

What to do if you don’t qualify

If you’re not approved for a credit card hardship program, don’t lose hope. Other debt relief options may still be accessible to you. Here are a few alternative strategies to consider:

• Credit card debt forgiveness: Credit card debt forgiveness, also referred to as debt settlement, is a process in which you work with a debt settlement company or negotiate directly with your creditors to try and settle your debt for less than what you owe. 
• Debt consolidation: Debt consolidation allows you to combine multiple credit card balances into a single loan, ideally with a lower interest rate, to simplify your payments and potentially reduce the amount of interest you’re paying each month. 
• Debt management: A debt management plan helps you pay off credit card debt with structured monthly payments over three to five years. These programs may offer reduced interest rates or waived fees, making monthly payments more affordable. 

The bottom line

Credit card hardship programs can be a valuable tool for those who qualify, so if you’re facing a temporary financial setback, it may be worth considering this option. But if you don’t qualify, other debt relief solutions may provide the help you need. By exploring the options above and speaking with a debt relief expert, you may be able to find a pathway to reduce your debt burden this November and work toward long-term financial stability.

As a mist of rain sprinkled the fields around him in Homestead, Florida, Ford bemoaned how expensive it had been running a fossil fuel-powered irrigation system on his five-acre farm — and how bad it was for the planet.

Earlier this month, Ford installed an automated underground system that uses a solar-powered pump to periodically saturate the roots of his crops, saving “thousands of gallons of water.” Although they may be more costly up front, he sees such climate-friendly investments as a necessary expense — and more affordable than expanding his workforce of two.

It’s “much more efficient,” said Ford. “We’ve tried to figure out ‘How do we do it?’ with the least amount of adding labor.”

A growing number of companies are bringing automation to agriculture. It could ease the sector’s deepening labor shortage, help farmers manage costs, and protect workers from extreme heat. Automation could also improve yields by bringing greater accuracy to planting, harvesting, and farm management, potentially mitigating some of the challenges of growing food in an ever-warmer world.

But many small farmers and producers across the country aren’t convinced. Barriers to adoption go beyond steep price tags to questions about whether the tools can do the jobs nearly as well as the workers they’d replace. Some of those same workers wonder what this trend might mean for them, and whether machines will lead to exploitation.

How autonomous is farm automation? Not completely – yet

On some farms, driverless tractors churn through acres of corn, soybeans, lettuce and more. Such equipment is expensive, and requires mastering new tools, but row crops are fairly easy to automate. Harvesting small, non-uniform and easily damaged fruits like blackberries, or big citruses that take a bit of strength and dexterity to pull off a tree, would be much harder.

That doesn’t deter scientists like Xin Zhang, a biological and agricultural engineer at Mississippi State University. Working with a team at Georgia Institute of Technology, she wants to apply some of the automation techniques surgeons use, and the object recognition power of advanced cameras and computers, to create robotic berry-picking arms that can pluck the fruits without creating a sticky, purple mess.

The scientists have collaborated with farmers for field trials, but Zhang isn’t sure when the machine might be ready for consumers. Although robotic harvesting is not widespread, a smattering of products have hit the market, and can be seen working from Washington’s orchards to Florida’s produce farms.

“I feel like this is the future,” Zhang said.

But where she sees promise, others see problems.

Frank James, executive director of grassroots agriculture group Dakota Rural Action, grew up on a cattle and crop farm in northeastern South Dakota. His family once employed a handful of farmhands, but has had to cut back due, in part, to the lack of available labor. Much of the work is now done by his brother and sister-in-law, while his 80-year-old father occasionally pitches in.

They swear by tractor autosteer, an automated system that communicates with a satellite to help keep the machine on track. But it can’t identify the moisture levels in the fields which can hamstring tools or cause the tractor to get stuck, and requires human oversight to work as it should. The technology also complicates maintenance. For these reasons, he doubts automation will become the “absolute” future of farm work.

“You build a relationship with the land, with the animals, with the place that you’re producing it. And we’re moving away from that,” said James.

Some farmers say automation answers labor woes

Tim Bucher grew up on a farm in Northern California and has worked in agriculture since he was 16. Dealing with weather issues like drought has always been a fact of life for him, but climate change has brought new challenges as temperatures regularly hit triple digits and blankets of smoke ruin entire vineyards.

The toll of climate change compounded by labor challenges inspired him to combine his farming experience with his Silicon Valley engineering and startup background to found AgTonomy in 2021. It works with equipment manufacturers like Doosan Bobcat to make automated tractors and other tools.

Since pilot programs started in 2022, Bucher says the company has been “inundated” with customers, mainly vineyard and orchard growers in California and Washington.

Those who follow the sector say farmers, often skeptical of new technology, will consider automation if it will make their business more profitable and their lives easier. Will Brigham, a dairy and maple farmer in Vermont, sees such tools as solutions to the nation’s agricultural workforce shortage.

“A lot of farmers are struggling with labor,” he said, citing the “high competition” with jobs where “you don’t have to deal with weather.

Since 2021, Brigham’s family farm has been using Farmblox, an AI-powered farm monitoring and management system that helps them get ahead of issues like leaks in tubing used in maple production. Six months ago, he joined the company as a senior sales engineer to help other farmers embrace technology like it.”

Workers worry about losing jobs, or their rights, to automation

Detasseling corn used to be a rite of passage for some young people in the Midwest. Teenagers would wade through seas of corn removing tassels – the bit that looks like a yellow feather duster at the top of each stalk – to prevent unwanted pollination.

Extreme heat, drought and intense rainfall have made this labor-intensive task even harder. And it’s now more often done by migrant farmworkers who sometimes put in 20-hour days to keep up. That’s why Jason Cope, co-founder of farm tech company PowerPollen, thinks it’s essential to mechanize arduous tasks like detasseling. His team created a tool a tractor can use to collect the pollen from male plants without having to remove the tassel. It can then be saved for future crops.

“We can account for climate change by timing pollen perfectly as it’s delivered,” he said. “And it takes a lot of that labor that’s hard to come by out of the equation.

Workers worry about losing jobs, or their rights, to automation

Detasseling corn used to be a rite of passage for some young people in the Midwest. Teenagers would wade through seas of corn removing tassels – the bit that looks like a yellow feather duster at the top of each stalk – to prevent unwanted pollination.

Extreme heat, drought and intense rainfall have made this labor-intensive task even harder. And it’s now more often done by migrant farmworkers who sometimes put in 20-hour days to keep up. That’s why Jason Cope, co-founder of farm tech company PowerPollen, thinks it’s essential to mechanize arduous tasks like detasseling. His team created a tool a tractor can use to collect the pollen from male plants without having to remove the tassel. It can then be saved for future crops.

“We can account for climate change by timing pollen perfectly as it’s delivered,” he said. “And it takes a lot of that labor that’s hard to come by out of the equation.”

Workers worry about losing jobs, or their rights, to automation

Detasseling corn used to be a rite of passage for some young people in the Midwest. Teenagers would wade through seas of corn removing tassels – the bit that looks like a yellow feather duster at the top of each stalk – to prevent unwanted pollination.

Extreme heat, drought and intense rainfall have made this labor-intensive task even harder. And it’s now more often done by migrant farmworkers who sometimes put in 20-hour days to keep up. That’s why Jason Cope, co-founder of farm tech company PowerPollen, thinks it’s essential to mechanize arduous tasks like detasseling. His team created a tool a tractor can use to collect the pollen from male plants without having to remove the tassel. It can then be saved for future crops.

“We can account for climate change by timing pollen perfectly as it’s delivered,” he said. “And it takes a lot of that labor that’s hard to come by out of the equation.”

Erik Nicholson, who previously worked as a farm labor organizer and now runs Semillero de Ideas, a nonprofit focused on farmworkers and technology, said he has heard from farm workers concerned about losing work to automation. Some have also expressed worry about the safety of working alongside autonomous machines but are hesitant to raise issues because they fear losing their jobs. He’d like to see the companies building these machines, and the farm owners using them, put people first.

Luis Jimenez, a New York dairy worker, agrees. He described one farm using technology to monitor cows for sicknesses. Those kinds of tools can sometimes identify infections sooner than a dairy worker or veterinarian.

They also help workers know how the cows are doing, Jimenez said, speaking in Spanish. But they can reduce the number of people needed on farms and put extra pressure on the workers who remain, he said. That pressure is heightened by increasingly automated technology like video cameras used to monitor workers’ productivity.

Automation can be “a tactic, like a strategy, for bosses, so people are afraid and won’t demand their rights,” said Jimenez, who advocates for immigrant farmworkers with the grassroots organization Alianza Agrícola. Robots, after all, “are machines that don’t ask for anything,” he added. “We don’t want to be replaced by machines.”

— This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Grist. Associated Press reporters Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed. Walling reported from Chicago.

A Tennessee man pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping a Memphis school teacher while she was on an early morning run and then killing her.

Cleotha Abston entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping in the abduction and death of Eliza Fletcher.

Abston, who at times has also gone by the last name Henderson, lowered his head when speaking to the judge but showed no reaction after pleading guilty, CBS affiliate WREG-TV reported.

Abston, 40, had been set to stand trial in February. Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty if Abston were convicted of first-degree murder. Instead, Judge Lee Coffee sentenced Abston to life in prison without parole after he entered the guilty pleas.

Fletcher was grabbed from a street while she was jogging before dawn near the University of Memphis on Sept. 2, 2022, and forced into an SUV. Her body was found days later near a vacant duplex.

The killing of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, shocked the Memphis community and led to a flood of support for her family. Runners in Memphis and several other cities held early morning running events in her honor a week after she was abducted, a tradition that has continued in the city on the anniversary of her kidnapping.

In a statement, Fletcher’s family said they “miss the bright light of Liza’s life every day.”

“Liza meant so much to so many, and her smile radiated happiness, energy, and comfort,” her family said. “Her husband, her children, her parents, her brother, the rest of her family, her friends, her students, her school families, her fellow teachers, her church community, and so many others were moved by countless examples of her faith, kindness, and compassion.”

Abston was arrested after police detected his DNA on sandals found near the location where Fletcher was last seen. An autopsy report showed Fletcher died of a gunshot wound to the head. She also had injuries to her right leg and jaw fractures.

“We had been meeting with him regularly for the past few months and had been telling him that we need to settle this case, that we cannot go forward with a trial and expect to succeed,” said Juni Ganguli, Abston’s lawyer.

Abston was sentenced to 80 years in prison May 17 for raping a woman a year before he was charged in Fletcher’s death. He was convicted in April of raping the woman while holding her at gunpoint in September 2021.

Abston, whose history of criminal charges dates back to the 1990s when he was a juvenile, was not charged in the 2021 rape case until after being charged a year later with killing Fletcher because of a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit. After Fletcher’s death, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to issue a quarterly report on sexual assault kit testing times.

WREG-TV reported that District Attorney Steve Mulroy also read a statement in court from the victim’s family, which was directed at Abston:

“We have no idea what happened to you to turn you into someone so filled with a desire to hurt people. Whatever it was, it does not excuse or explain what you have done. You have changed our lives forever, and nothing will ever be the same. Your actions were evil. There is no other word for it. You murdered Liza, even though she did nothing to deserve it. She did not hurt you. In fact, she would’ve been the first to help if you needed it.”