Comments on: What is the Average Household Credit Card Debt?

By: George Saul

George Saul — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:47:34 +0000

The higher per monthly credit card amount (for higher education) could be that they have a higher credit allowed and they make more money to be
able to pay that higher debt.
I’ve had zero debt after each month for over 30 years and no house payment for over 10 years. I sleep very well every night !

By: Philip

Philip — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:47:40 +0000

For high earners credit cards are a convenience and are paid off by the due date. I do this as a matter of personal satisfaction at using the banks’ money for free albeit for a short period of time. Actually with some cards I even get paid to use my card through cashback programs.

By: Bob fett

Bob fett — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:21:04 +0000

Is it considered credit card debt if you pay the balance off each month? For instance, we have all our energy bills, cable bill, grocery/restaurant bills etc put on a card that is paid off when the statement arrives. We incur no interest charge but do get points. So, are these national average debts revolving balances or monthly expenditures?

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:48:16 +0000

And are much more able (on average) to service that debt. My philosophy is to never have debt. If I ever did, it was strategic. I’ve never owed on a car for more than three months. I’ve looked at interest expense vs. loss of interest as well as tax considerations before I borrowed a penny…..

By: Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith — Thu, 06 May 2010 07:24:20 +0000

I just don’t get credit card debt. Doesn’t make sense to me. Even for people with excellent credit scores, it’s rare to get offered a credit card with a long-term (as opposed to promotional) rate below 10%. You can invariably get a line of credit at 1/2 to 1/3 the rate of a credit card.I never pay interest on my card since I pay it off every month and I don’t consider it to be real credit card debt.

By: athek

athek — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:23:38 +0000

I think this is probably why the numbers are skewed this way. We put everything on our credit card, but pay it off every month. If you were to take a snapshot of our balance, it would probably always be around $5000, but we don’t pay a cent of interest.

By: Mr. Ivy League

Mr. Ivy League — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:59:03 +0000

Man, I should never have gotten that high school and college degree!

By: wkw

wkw — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:33:49 +0000

I wondered where you pulled the average credit card debt information data. I ask because if you were to pull a credit report for myself, I show large balances on cards that I pay off each and every month. – yes- rewards programs.

I believe others have stated this as a comment before by Marcie and NeverCarryBalance.

I must admit I was always shocked that charging everything might bring my score down even though I never pay interest because it is paid in full.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:33:03 +0000

Exactly why BHO is going to help balance things out a bit.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:31:20 +0000

Most college grads are homeowners? Where did you get this information? Sounds like BS.

By: doc

doc — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:53:15 +0000

The author has missed the point: people of means use money to make money. I have a comfortable income, the kind that BHO would like to tax into oblivion. I go shopping for major items and I’m immeadiately offered low interest rates, often 0%. I see that as free money so I go for it. I worked with a temp who had terrible credit. She had to pay 30+% so she would have been crazy to go into debt, so she did, later filing bankruptcy. It hardly seems fair, but the more you can afford the cheaper things are. My credit card debt, used to buy a ranch, is at 0%, 1.9%, and 3.99%.

By: Big Brown Dad

Big Brown Dad — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:29:54 +0000

Finance is war. I am tired of losing. Business owners are getting rich because tax laws protect them. I am going to own a business. I have filed for BK. Defaulted my mortgage. I don’t want credit! I make 70k a year, wife got laid-off. When she gets a job my goal is to save what I make and live off what she makes. Success takes capital. My retirement plan at work is a joke. Draw a line in the sand !

By: The Arabic Student

The Arabic Student — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:35:26 +0000

I actually thought the numbers would be higher. I buy everything with a credit card, so my balance is about $1000 to $1500 every month, but I always pay it off. I wonder if they calculate people who have balances like mine into the statistics. I never pay interest on my card since I pay it off every month and I don’t consider it to be real credit card debt.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:18:33 +0000

Interesting statistics. I’m not too surprised that college graduates have higher debt as they tend to spend more money. After constantly hearing about people living in debt, it’s surprising to see these numbers this low though.

By: freeby50

freeby50 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:26:44 +0000

People have asked if the credit card balance amounts in the survey discussed include balances of people who pay their bill off every month. I had the same question and checked into the survey to find out.

The survey in question is counting credit card debt that is an “outstanding balance”. The survey questions ask specifically if you pay off your bill every month and the survey asks how much was on your credit card after you made your last payment.

The survey says:

“(After the last payments were made, roughly what was the total balance still owed on all these accounts?/After the last payment was made, roughly what was the balance still owed on this account?)
WE WANT THE TOTAL AMOUNT OWED, NOT THE MINIMUM PAYMENT.
CODE ZERO IF ALL ACCOUNTS WERE PAID IN FULL.”

And one of the reports explained what they meant by credit card balances and said specifically : “Balances exclude purchases made after the most recent bill was paid.”

So the debt figures do NOT include people who use the card regularly and pay it off every month.