What is Average Credit Card Debt?
Ever wondered where you fall in the spectrum? Check out the average credit card debt in the USA
When it comes to average credit card debt, average will always be a relative term. By its very nature, you find an average by adding up a bunch of different amounts and dividing them by the total number. In other words, if you took three people -- one with a debt of $8,595, one with a debt of $50, and one with a debt of $200 -- the "average" debt between them would be about $2,950 -- a very misleading figure.
Having said that, however, the more people involved in the study, the closer to the actual average your answer will be. So although you should take "average" numbers with a grain of salt, they can be very informative about the amount of debt people actually carry.
And the answer is...
So what's happening to average credit card debt in America? The simple answer is -- it's going up. Remember that as little as fifty years ago, it was possible to flat out buy a house with your savings. These days, such a thing is unthinkable unless you happen to win the lottery. We live in a world of credit.
Given that, going into debt doesn't seem nearly as troublesome to today's generations as it did to our ancestors. According to Index Credit Cards, a site that uses government data to tabulate credit card information, the average American carries just over $4,000 in credit card debt -- and the average household about $7,860.
And that's assuming that everyone has a credit card. The same study, though, shows that only about 75% of Americans hold and use credit cards. If you eliminate the 25%, that brings the American household's average credit card debt up to a whopping $10,482.
What it means
Believe it or not, that number is actually down from past years. Aside from being interesting, though, this sort of information should carry a strong warning: it's very, very easy to get bogged down in debt. If you're carrying more than $4,000 in debt, then you could be in place for serious financial worries.
Your best bet? Forget about the average credit card debt and focus on keeping your own as low as possible!
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