Shhhhh...

Credit Card Debt Statistics

Did You Know...

Americans put a record $1.045-trillion on their Visa cards last year -- roughly equal to the size of the entire Canadian economy?

Credit card companies' annual pretax profits have soared 2½ times in the last decade, and last year was their most profitable in more than 15 years.

Up to75% of their revenues come from finance charges, the remainder from late fees and penalties.

Late fees have become a booming business for financial institutions. U.S. banks pocketed $14.8-billion (U.S.) in penalty fees on credit card loans last year, up from $10.7-billion in 2003.

Credit card companies lose nearly $40-billion a year due to bankruptcy filings each year?

Approximately half of all credit card holders pay only their minimum monthly requirements. There are a total of 1.2 billion credit and retail cards in North America. The average American household is solicited seven times a year by credit card companies?

Total consumer credit: $1.7 trillion.

Credit card debt carried by the average American: $8,562.

Total finance charges Americans paid in 2001: $50 billion.

Percent of U.S. households deemed credit worthy by the lending industry: 78%.

Number of credit card holders who declared bankruptcy last year: 1.59 million.

Last year's total debt of $40.1 Trillion was 9 times higher than the $4.6 Trillion debt in 1957 (both measured in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars).

Last year's total debt per person was $136,479 (up $7,900 over last year's $128,560); this compares to $27,084 in 1957 (both measured in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars). That's a debt excess of $109,395 per man, woman and child. 

6% ($27 trillion) of this debt was created since 1990, a period primarily driven by debt instead of by productive activity.

In 2003, the average credit-card debt of US households with at least one card was $9,205, up from $2,966 in 1990, according to the research firm CardWeb.com - - that's 310% higher.

Americans bought over $2 trillion worth of stuff on credit last year.

Current outstanding debt on credit cards -- that's the "revolving" part that we don't pay off every month -- totals nearly $700 billion, up from just $50 billion in 1980.

Three of five American families can't pay off their credit cards each month. Their running balance averages about $12,000, which is one-fourth of the median household income.

By the mid-1990s, credit card debt held by Americans living below the poverty level more than doubled.

Senior citizens, once noted for their frugality, are sinking deeper into debt: Their average credit card balance increased by 89 percent between 1992 and 2001.

Total consumer debt in the United States comes to over $7,100 per person -- and that doesn't include mortgages.

***Universal Default - Gives creditors the right to periodically review your credit report and allows credit card companies to raise your interest rate if you're late making a payment -- even to someone else! 

Payday Loan
Benefits

Payday Partners