According to recent statistics, the average American household with consumer debt has a credit card debt of $15,863, with that number being $7,400 with all houses (debt or no debt) taken into account. That’s a staggering amount of money, and when you add it all up it amounts to:
- $901 billion in total credit card debt in the United States (up 2.37 percent from May 2014).
- $8.17 trillion in mortgage debt.
- $1.21 trillion in student loan debt (a number that consistently rises every year).
- $11.86 trillion in total debt.
It’s a little crazy when you think about it — the average household that has credit card debt already owes more than $15,000 before even taking mortgages and student loans into account. That’s a whole lot of debt.
Credit card debt has not increased as quickly as student loan debt, but it’s hard to say for sure whether the current consumer debt levels are good or bad for the American economy. More consumer spending supposedly means the economy is doing better, as greater spending leads to more jobs and better income levels, which leads in turn to more spending. However, wages and employment are still improving at rather slow paces, which means these current levels of credit use may actually reflect the desire of these families to borrow just to make ends meet (and thus we cannot assume the economy is doing better just because spending has increased).
The height of credit card debt in the United States came in late 2008 and early 2009, when total credit card debt topped out at around $19,000 for the average household with at least some consumer debt. However, some research indicates that the decrease of debt in the six and a half years since then has more to do with people defaulting on their loans or credit companies simply writing off these loans rather than people actually paying back their debts or keeping credit card spending under control.
If you have a significant amount of credit card debt, you aren’t alone. And the good news is, there are plenty of strategies for eliminating ALL debt (not just credit card, mortgage too). For assistance, contact the financial experts at Money Mastery today. We look forward to working with you!
