The Truth About the Average American's Credit Card Debt
The American people have heard that everyone is in a lot of debt. This is because there are a lot of rumors about credit card debt that people hear every day. There are many sources such as the media, the government, and even bank officials that claim each American is thousands of dollars in debt when it comes to credit cards. People start to believe these rumors because of all of the statistics that officials show. Because of the media and statistics the real truth about credit card debt is hidden and can only be seen if the statistics are broken down further.
The most over used and over rated statistic states that each American has more than $8,000 in credit card debt. The statistic is only true if you're taking the average credit card debt among the people that have credit cards. However this is usually a big misconception as the word average is often easily confused. Many people believe that they arrived at this number by dividing the credit card debt among everyone. However this couldn't be further from the truth. They only used the number of Americans that have credit cards which leaves out a huge number of Americans in the averaging factor.
The truth is that most American households don't have debt. In fact only about 1 in 20 American households have $8,000 or more in debt. This means that the majority of American families have paid off their credit cards or don't have credit cards. Out of the remaining households, most of them only owe $2,000 or less. An average can't tell you how much the average American owes as it's a skewed number.
The reason that the truth about credit card debt is hidden is because of how they got the $8,000 number. They got it by taking $750 billion, which is all the outstanding credit card debt, and divided it by 84 million, which is the number of American households that have credit cards. While this may seem reasonable at first glance it's just a myth when you're talking about the average American household.
An astounding 23.8% of American households don't even have credit cards! These households weren't included in the calculation since they don't have credit cards. Another 31.2% of Americans pay off their cards as soon as they get the bill. This totals to an astounding 55% of American households that have no credit card debt.
Out of the remaining households only 29% owe more than $1,000 to credit card companies and only 21% owe $2,000 or more. If you consider that only 4% of households owe more than $10,000 and only 1% owe more than $21,000 then you will realize that most Americans owe very little in credit card debt. Most American households owe very little to nothing in credit card debt. The truth about American credit card debt is often hidden because of influences such as the media. - 23162
The most over used and over rated statistic states that each American has more than $8,000 in credit card debt. The statistic is only true if you're taking the average credit card debt among the people that have credit cards. However this is usually a big misconception as the word average is often easily confused. Many people believe that they arrived at this number by dividing the credit card debt among everyone. However this couldn't be further from the truth. They only used the number of Americans that have credit cards which leaves out a huge number of Americans in the averaging factor.
The truth is that most American households don't have debt. In fact only about 1 in 20 American households have $8,000 or more in debt. This means that the majority of American families have paid off their credit cards or don't have credit cards. Out of the remaining households, most of them only owe $2,000 or less. An average can't tell you how much the average American owes as it's a skewed number.
The reason that the truth about credit card debt is hidden is because of how they got the $8,000 number. They got it by taking $750 billion, which is all the outstanding credit card debt, and divided it by 84 million, which is the number of American households that have credit cards. While this may seem reasonable at first glance it's just a myth when you're talking about the average American household.
An astounding 23.8% of American households don't even have credit cards! These households weren't included in the calculation since they don't have credit cards. Another 31.2% of Americans pay off their cards as soon as they get the bill. This totals to an astounding 55% of American households that have no credit card debt.
Out of the remaining households only 29% owe more than $1,000 to credit card companies and only 21% owe $2,000 or more. If you consider that only 4% of households owe more than $10,000 and only 1% owe more than $21,000 then you will realize that most Americans owe very little in credit card debt. Most American households owe very little to nothing in credit card debt. The truth about American credit card debt is often hidden because of influences such as the media. - 23162
About the Author:
Layla Vanderbilt is the content coordinator for a leading website that offers for bad debt consolidation advice and guidance.
posted by X - Men @ 3:02 AM
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