The numbers are actually quite terrifying. While 25% carry a balance of up to $2,000, debts of 24% of the interviewed exceed $10,000. This means that, in aggregate, almost 50% of American cardholders own credit card debts of several thousand dollars. This statement is proved with the ValuePenguin research, which defines the average credit card debt in the U.S. as $5,700. Moreover, it shows that the total outstanding U.S. credit card debt is $3.9 trillion, and the total revolving debt is $1.03 trillion.
All this is aggravated by the fact that 16% have no idea how much balance they own, and the whole 21% are not sure if they have debt in general. Not surprisingly, 13% admit that they are forced to save a lot, and 15% feel that their balance gradual increasing leads to low quality of life.
As for the number of credit cards, 37% use only one credit card that contains debt, 27% say they have two such cards, and 12% – five or even more credit cards.
However, there is something to rejoice too. Most, namely 60%, still tend to cope with debts and are able to make payments on time every month. Half of the respondents said that there was no trouble for them to manage multiple monthly payments.
Bottom Line
Credit card debt in the United States is growing each year. Just compare today’s $1.03 trillion to only $854 billion five years ago. And it is not easy to stay away from debts since we are all so attached to our credit cards nowadays. Americans are more likely to pay with a credit card than with cash than ever before. Therefore, the best solution is to simply carefully monitor your credit card expenses and prevent them from getting out of control. You can always request a statement from your card issuer or order your credit report from a credit bureau to check your state of affairs.
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