American Debt Isn’t So Bad!
September 28th, 2007There seems to be a common misconception floating around - the idea that American households have an average credit card debt of $8,000.
Reality tells a different story. The truth is, most Americans owe nothing to credit card companies, and a majority of the households that do, actually owe $2,000 or less. According to the Federal Reserves, only about 1 in 20 American households owe more than $8,000 in credit card debt.
So, where did this “$8,000″ figure come from? This number has some validity to it. It is the average debt of the American household that does possess at least one credit card. According to stats, about 80% of U.S. households has at least one credit card. Of this 80%, most owe $2,000 or less to their credit cards.
These stats still don’t negate the fact that many Americans are still facing huge debt problems. There seems to be some truth to the saying, “The Rich become Richer, while the Poor become Poorer.” In other words, the middle class is shrinking while the rich and poor classes are growing.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Yes I agree with you that American Debt is not so bad, that is if you factor in that the rich people do not use credit and many poor people can’t qualify for credit.
That leaves the shrinking middle class with the burden of credit card debt.
I wonder if the Feds surveyed that specific group, after all they represent the working middle class, the work horses of the American economy.
Don’t forget that many of the middle class are homeowners, they’ve gobble up their credit card debt with refinanced mortgages and many of those mortgages are the hybrid option arm mortgages.
Let’s wait in a couple of years. Then we’ll really see how American debt will go bad!
September 30th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Good point.