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 01/11/06 (Modified 05/07/12)