Credit Card Debt Tops $3,500 Per Adult, $7,200 Per Household
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Card Debt Tops $3,500 Per Adult, $7,200 Per Household
Using
government debt data and census data, IndexCreditCards.com has
determined that the average American adult is carrying $3,560
in revolving debt and the average American household is carrying
$7,271 in revolving debt. Revolving debt is mainly debt from
credit cards, although certain other open-end lines of credit
may be included as well.
Data released earlier this week from the Federal Reserve Board
estimates that revolving consumer debt in the United States
totals $799.1 billion. Using census data from 2004 and 2005,
IndexCreditCards.com estimates the adult (18 and over) population
of the U.S. at 224,444,930 and the total number of households
at 109,902,090. Dividing the total revolving debt by the population/household
figures gives the resulting debt averages.
"Those
are scary numbers," says Adam Jusko, Research Director for
IndexCreditCards.com, "especially when you consider that the
credit scoring company Fair Issac says that 40 percent of credit
card holders carry a balance below $1,000. That means there
are many, many people with debt far above these averages, people
whose credit card debt has gotten out of control."
Published 1/11/06 (Modified 5/7/12)
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