Articles on Credit | Topics: credit, creditworthy, creditworthiness
by Korey Terry
You're Not Alone: Credit Card Statistics.
Do you have any idea just how common credit cards are? Let's take a look at a few statistics from the USA.
The average family carries a balance of between $5,000 and $8,000 on all their credit cards, depending on which figures you believe. Over $1,000 per family goes on interest every year. And that's just the average – some people owe much more! Overall, Americans spend over $1 trillion every year on their credit cards, and owe more than $500 billion of it.
If debt continues at the current rate, then one family in a hundred will be forced into bankruptcy. Over 90% of Americans' disposable incomes are spent paying back debts. Whatever happened to saving?
Debt Costs Everyone Money.
Literally billions of dollars are being used up on expenses that are only created because of the existence of the credit card industry. The weight of the calculations, administration and marketing needed to support the industry is immense – the average American gets at least one credit card offer in the mail every day.
That's before you take into account the burden bankruptcies put on the court system, and the cost to the government of providing subsidised debt counselling. You might also note that consumers with more debt have less to spend – and when money isn't flowing, it hurts the economy. There are very few industries or people that aren't hurt by debt, at least in the long run.
| Bit of History |
We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.
| —Epictetus (c. 55–c. 135) |
|
|
Debt is Much More Common Than It Used To Be.
It's not so long ago that being in even a little debt was considered to be absolutely terrible. When you wanted something, you saved up for it, and bought it once you had enough money. If you had bad credit, you couldn't get a credit card at all. Go back fifty years and consumer debt figures were absurdly low, the same way they are today in most of the non-Western world.
In the West, though, the art of saving seems to be a lost one – almost no-one is saving enough for their retirement, and banks are having to offer ever-higher interest rates to get people to put money anywhere near a savings account. We have an 'I-want-it-now' consumer culture, and we're willing to pay more than we can afford to fund our lifestyles.
Spending Isn't To Blame.
Now that I've said that, don't think that the reason you're in debt is that you haven't spent your money cautiously enough. According to statistics, it is very rare for people to get into debt because they spend their money frivolously. Far more people get buried in debt because they lose their job, or get sick – they take out credit cards to pay for basic expenses, and fall into the interest trap. Their debt spirals out of control from just a few thousand dollars borrowed to pay for essentials.
Most people have a reasonable sense of what they can afford, and won't go out and use credit cards to buy things that they wouldn't usually be able to pay for. The problem is simply a matter of people leaving their balances on credit cards for too long, not realising just how high the interest really is.
|
We strive to provide
only top rate articles on our website. If
there is a specific credit-related topic that you would like us to cover, please contact us here.
Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "You're Not Alone: Credit Card Statistics" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by LoansCreditConsolidation.com. |
Debt Recovery
By Harrison Hartman
There's no denying that we Americans follow certain patterns/traditions. While church on Sundays, Friday night football, and backyard barbeques may be some of them, they're not the ones I have in mind....
The Human Side: Debt Stress
By Ziahon Olsen
The Human Side: Debt Stress. In all the technical discussion you hear about credit card debt, the best ways to manage it and pay it off and all the rest, one thing goes largely ignored....
Go for Broker: A Mortgage Broker Can Pay Off for You
By Kenya Jacobson
Maybe you're buying your first home or maybe you're just considering upgrade residences. Either way, you're going to need a mortgage to pay for your new home....
|
