Credit Card Debt Statistics: Information That You Should Not Ignore

August 31st, 2010 | Posted in Credit Card Debt

I just read some data about credit debt today that quickly blew my mind. There have been 3 things that stuck out hugely to me. First was that the average credit debt in America is $15,788. The second one could be that the average person in the America has 3.5 credit cards. The 3rd and most shocking point was that the average rate of interest was 14.99%. Whoa!

There are actually a lot of reasons for all of this. The very first major reason is that currently unemployment numbers are still very high. The less people work, the more of the chance that they are going to be piling up the credit card debt. This is also true because there has been a reduction in the number of hours for those individuals who are employed. So they are only taking home less money. While they may be taking home less money they most likely are still spending exactly the same that they were when they were making more. Where’s the outlet? Credit card.

I think that the number of credit cards the typical consumer has together with the amount of personal credit card debt that they have got on these cards can be contributed to just how effortless it really is for people to acquire credit cards. Banks spend lots of money on marketing the lifestyle that you can live whenever you purchase items with their credit cards. They make it look extravagant to spend money. So there have been a pretty picture painted with how spending on credit cards can be.

So, once the pretty picture of personal credit card debt is painted. Chances are they’ll mail bomb anyone with their credit pulled recently. The banks have been permitted to get credit information and that can target those who probably have either recently applied for a loan or another credit card. They then mail out credit card offers to those individuals with predicatively a higher response rate because they already are in the game. (This data anyway is the same reason you receive a couple of calls and mailers once you apply for a house loan. It’s called Trigger data, since it is triggered when you get your credit pulled.)

So while a person might have all kinds of money on one credit card. They will get an even better offer on a new credit card. This can be contributed to the average number of cards being almost 4. They come in the mail and signing up take very little effort. Personally I signed up for a Citi card the other day and was shocked at how fast I was approved. The more shocking part was how fast I got the card. That card showed up in less than 5 days.

The biggest issue with personal credit card debt in the US though is ours, “keep with the Jones’s” lifestyle. It has been engraved into the fabric of our society that we have to have as nice of things as our neighbors. So you see this at all times. We certainly have a culture that is based throughout the collection of material possession. This mindset plays straight into the advertising of the creditors. The credit card firms make it easy to spend the money.

The final outcome to tap into this is scary. The entire U.S. personal debt is $2.45 trillion, since March 2010. Americans have an overabundance debt than any country in the world. It’s no surprise that more and more people are searching for credit card debt relief like Indiana debt relief or Virginia debt relief. People get in over their heads and realize they may need Debt Settlement to help them get Debt Relief and let them know how to eliminate credit card debt. Therefore, control your urges to spend and steer clear of being like the average American with almost $16,000 credit card debt.

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