Credit cards..........Another media hype 23.8% of American households have no credit cards at all -- no bank cards, no retail cards, nothing. Another 31.2% of the households the Fed surveyed paid off their most recent credit card bills in full. So together, the households that owed nothing on credit cards equaled 55% of the total. Only 29% of households owe $1,000 or more on their cards. 21% owe $2,000 or more. 6% owe $8,000 or more. 4% owe $10,500 or more. 1% owe $21,400 or more.
I spoke with someone about refinancing their mortgage recently and we were going over their financials... They had over $100K in credit card debt. I have no idea how in the hell they got that much credit extended to them in the first place....but I swear to God I saw it myself. They probably grossed about $12K/month household income. I have no clue how these people do it...but I have talked to people on multiple occasions with $50K+ in CC debt...but that $100K+ CC debt really blew my mind. There aren't rich people we're talking about either...these are average people.
That survey is from 2001 data! This is 2008 in case you forgot. I agree it's 7 yr old outdated BS data which has changed greatly in the last couple years. And since many have been paying off their credit card debt with HELOC, which is tax deductable unlike credit card interest, the numbers are going much higher now that the home equity money spigot is turned off.
Give this a tune up. Broadly speaking, say the current cc balance is a trillion and say there are 100 million households in US. Then every household has 10,000 on their cards. Just imagine if the majority apply their tax rebate to their cc balance. regards f9
Big deal a couple hundred bucks will barely even cover the minimum payment. They are going to apply their tax rebates to cigs, alcohol, McD's, and Wal-mart/Costco.
some more recent survey http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...n7AmericansCarries10CreditCards.aspx?GT1=9113 1 in 7 Americans carry 10 or more credit cards! talkin' about a "fat" wallet
Then what does this have to do with the fact that you have seen more people spend $5 on a credit card than ever you have before?