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A Guide to Statistics on Credit Card Debt in the United States
With millions of families knee-deep in credit card debt, credit card companies are becoming richer. It seems paradoxical that one of the world's wealthiest nations is so deep in debt by credit cards and other lines of credit, but millions of citizens in the United States are. In fact, in 2002 Americans held $60 billion of credit card debt in the first half of the year. With all that much credit card debt, it's no wonder Americans find it hard to keep up with paying their bills each month. The average of American families who hold credit cards in their names have just over $8500 on their credit cards. That figure is daunting for so many reasons. First, there are many American families who claim that much credit card debt that don't even make $30,000 each year. For them, paying down their credit card debt will be twice or three times as hard as their wealthier family peers. In fact, paying the minimum amount on credit card bills each month will not only do nothing for the principal of the credit card balance, but it will take years and thousands of dollars of added interest payments to completely pay off the credit card bills. Considering that a large amount of Americans do not pay off their full credit card balance each month, becoming debt free is only a dream that most Americans visit every once in a while. And while the credit card bill payments each month are getting larger, more Americans are becoming poorer and declaring it. In 2003 alone, 1.3 million American individuals and families who owned credit cards declared bankruptcy. Not only is that an awful statement for the reputation of America's families, but bankruptcies make life even harder for those who file them. First, bankruptcy can stay on your credit report for a minimum of 7 to 13 years. Second, some mortgage companies will be apprehensive about lending money to someone who has already and recently declared bankruptcy if a mortgage or home equity loan is needed. Two resources that one can use in order to find out more information about the average amount of debt that's held by Americans is the Motley Fool Credit Center website, along with Bankrate.com and other government websites, like the United States' Department of Justice website on credit statistics, as well as USA.gov. All of these websites not only serve the public to let them know how much debt is currently being held by Americans on a daily and yearly basis. They also offer credit tips and credit debt help so that families and individuals can be debt free easier. These resources, especially the governmental ones, also serve to help the public know what's going on and how to handle it. Since millions of Americans continue to utilize the credit system and own at least 2 credit cards, you can be assured that the information that is presented to consumers will not go to waste. But the real key is how Americans will use the statistical information about the credit card debt of everyone in the United States. The ideal situation would be that consumers would use all of the help to actually lessen their own amount of credit card debt, but realistically, that probably won't happen.
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