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Credit card debt is at a record $1T plus...

fredgraph.png
Seems pretty normal to me by historical standards.
 
We have more people than ever, more things than ever are required to be paid by credit (or are easier to pay with credit) and things you normally put on a credit card (groceries, gas, ect) are all pretty historically expensive.


Putting that in context of the graph above, it's just kinda normal now?
 
Fenixgoon said:
how much of that debt is carried vs. paid off?

sure i have "lots" of CC debt each month. i also pay it in full each month.
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That is a great point.

I would think that the majority of cc debt is carried over month to month. The reason I say this is because many Americans are not doing so good financially. And, the truth is many people have difficulty delaying gratification, and they don't really understand how interest rates can really cripple you. Youa re absolutely correct. If you pay off your cc debt at the end of every month credit cards are wonderful.
 
Last month I had $10,000 of CC debt at a 30% interest rate. I got sick of the $500 a month payments and sold some items to pay off all my cards.
The toys that I sold to pay off the debt can be replaced much sooner now I don't have that $500 payment hanging over my head.
 
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I owe something like $15k on a couple 0% cards. I can pay it off anytime I want or I can let my cash sit there earning 5.5% until 2025. The CC company gives those deals out because they think I’ll eventually pay them interest but they are wrong.
 
Average individual american is carrying around 6000 in credit card debt at any given time is my understanding. Most of it is not paid off monthly. We are a nation of debtors.

There are also other markers that things are going so well right now. Credit card delinquency is rising. Personal savings rates are down. Unemployment is up a tick and mortgage foreclosures are also going up. Many investors are speculating a recession right around the corner.
 
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Another thing is that most of the 0% interest payment plans you sign up for are now just credit cards. There's a lot of mattresses, e-bikes, TV's, ect on a 0% payment plan counting towards that.

I've got a couple of those open right now. I'll do a small payment at 0% and shovel a couple grand into high interest accounts each month instead.

I'll take free money.
 
Let's call it 250M adult Americans, that 1T is 4,000 per person. That is significant. But of course most of that is probably paid off on time.

Holiday spending is another trillion? 😱
 
Sunburn74 said:
Average individual american is carrying around 6000 in credit card debt at any given time is my understanding. Most of it is not paid off monthly. We are a nation of debtors.

There are also other markers that things are going so well right now. Credit card delinquency is rising. Personal savings rates are down. Unemployment is up a tick and mortgage foreclosures are also going up. Many investors are speculating a recession right around the corner.
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Last quarter we had 4.9% annualized GDP growth. Given how recessions are defined, I highly doubt we're on the brink of one now.
 
sdifox said:
Let's call it 250M adult Americans, that 1T is 4,000 per person. That is significant. But of course most of that is probably paid off on time.

Holiday spending is another trillion? 😱
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I don't know the stat, but you overestimate Americans. 😛

woolfe9998 said:
Last quarter we had 4.9% annualized GDP growth. Given how recessions are defined, I highly doubt we're on the brink of one now.
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But Americans polled have a dismal view of the national economy and keep saying it sucks or that it's only getting worse. 🤦‍♂️ This is especially true with conservative voters who admit their own financial status, while not necessarily booming, is stable and not under extreme stress. Most likely they'd claim the 4.9% annualized growth rate is fake. See the post immediately above mine. :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:
 
repoman0 said:
I owe something like $15k on a couple 0% cards. I can pay it off anytime I want or I can let my cash sit there earning 5.5% until 2025. The CC company gives those deals out because they think I’ll eventually pay them interest but they are wrong.
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Highest I've had in the last couple of years is about $6K on 0% cards. I'm down to a couple of hundred. I haven't paid a penny of card interest in about 15 years, maybe more.

I put nearly everything on cards to take advantage of rewards and bonus points, but anything not on a 0% promo gets paid in full. And what cash I can hold is in high yield savings accounts.

I'm making money on bank interest and promos and not paying interest.


And you'd completely freak if you saw my monthly income which is less than some of you pay monthly for cars.
 
manly said:
I don't know the stat, but you overestimate Americans. 😛


But Americans polled have a dismal view of the national economy and keep saying it sucks or that it's only getting worse. 🤦‍♂️ This is especially true with conservative voters who admit their own financial status, while not necessarily booming, is stable and not under extreme stress. Most likely they'd claim the 4.9% annualized growth rate is fake. See the post immediately above mine. :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:
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I made my comment not out of concern for how conservatives view the economy, but because people here, who are mostly liberals, keep knocking the economy when they should know better. The economy is not overall in bad shape so it's probably not such a good idea to continue the usual behavior of always griping about it, especially since we're coming up on what might be the most important election in American history.
 
woolfe9998 said:
Last quarter we had 4.9% annualized GDP growth. Given how recessions are defined, I highly doubt we're on the brink of one now.
Click to expand...
Yes it was 4.9%, yet the fed did not raise interest rates which is quite telling. The 4.9% growth is being concentrated in a very small group of hands and is not being felt by the average consumer.
 
Collect interest, don't pay it. I use my credit card a lot, but pay it off twice monthly when I get paid. For many others I know, their debt is huge.
 
repoman0 said:
I owe something like $15k on a couple 0% cards. I can pay it off anytime I want or I can let my cash sit there earning 5.5% until 2025. The CC company gives those deals out because they think I’ll eventually pay them interest but they are wrong.
Click to expand...
Thats clever, so you are essentially having inflation eat your debt…
 
cytg111 said:
Wait a minute.

You guys not using debit cards for your day to day shit? Credit cards? Why?
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Credit cards have far better protection against fraud. It is the creditors money after all. Your not on the hook if someone else is committing fraud.


With a debit card, well, it is your money. You might be ok, you might not. Depends on the case, the bank, how quick you caught it, etc.


Most debit cards also have daily purchase limits. Typically $500.


Many credit cards will return between 1% to 6% of the purchase cost back to you as cash.


if you don't want to roll the dice on how much your getting back, there is also 2% cash back on all purchase cards:


personally, I like the category cards, they are more random, but I routinely get the 5% return, and once in a while get the 6% return. They always get 1% return. With those you get a card that always returns 1%, and then gives a better rate of return for certain things. I have one card that never changes categories, another that picks 3 categories every quarter.


and as always, pay them off fully every statement. Setup auto pay in full. Easy to do.
 
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