Bad news for the economy, and those trying to save for a house.
Definitely. Is that $6,200 in addition to their monthly spending or includes that?
Is this medical debt, reckless spenders, or careless procrastinations?
Don’t know, but suspect people who use their CC for everything, and at the end of the month, cannot even pay the interest. Sad.
And if they can pay just the interest, they will continue to keep charging…
People using credit to cover the inflation we have seen over the last several years.
Kiting. They open one card to try and pay the other. Does not end well.
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According to Forbes, the average interest rate on credit cards is 24.25%. Consumers have the “get now, pay later” approach to things. I don’t think anyone saves for an item anymore. I wonder how many people would use a credit card to buy an item if they thought that it was actually costing them 24.25% more than what is shown on the price tag.
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I think the bigger question is why people don’t have an emergency fund. Eventually this will lead to dipping into savings, not investing, and/or going into some type of debt, secured or unsecured. That’s the bigger issue as the CC debt is a symptom of the problem of spending more then what you make regardless of the reason
As Robertpri said, people use one CC to pay off another or one loan to payoff another. On the one hand, that can lower the interest you pay. But the problem is you either need to cut your spending or if your house or car is too big or you are making minimum wage, you need to make more money.
My approach has always been to pay bills first, especially those for food and housing. If there is any money left over, then you buy other items or do recreational activities. Through the years, there were many times when there was no money left over. In that case, we stayed home. We did not go to restaurants, movies, concerts, vacation travel, buy cars, etc. It has paid off in the long run.
Our approach, after learning from the Taiwanese, was to pay ourselves first [savings] then budget to live on the rest.
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I always wondered how the number is figured. On any given month I may have a CC debt of anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000 depending on my expenses, however it is always paid off each month and I never, ever carry a balance. We have not carried a balance where we owe interest in 40 years. So CC interest has not affect on us.
So the math says you have an average debt of $6,750.
I think that’s part of the credit utilization ratio that reporting agencies use to evaluate credit worthiness. The other part is the total of the credit limits on your credit cards.
I’ve never gone over a credit limit but whenever I have a purchase that gets close to it I notify the credit card company and get pre-approval. Then I pay off the charge right away.
Once I paid for a new car with a CC and paid it off within a few days. It didn’t move my credit score at all.