Comments on: A MUST READ Article on Credit Card Debt

By: Shena Hubschmitt

Shena Hubschmitt — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 07:37:27 +0000

Very well written story. It will be supportive to anybody who employess it, as well as me. Keep doing what you are doing – can’r wait to read more posts.

By: BMW Insurance

BMW Insurance — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:23:32 +0000

I’m going to have to side with Natalie on this one.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:28:43 +0000

I was able to do some research on Cardweb.com, and what I found most interesting about the site is that it does not tell its readers how it came up with the $9,000 debt average. I think if it did, most people would not believe it. Cardweb.com simply divides the total outstanding credit card debt at the end of 2002, which was $750.9 billion, by the 84 million American households that have at least one credit card. If you do the math yourself, you will see the exact number comes out to be $8,939.29. This average IS mathematically correct, but I do agree with Brian, in that it is VERY misleading. It’s misleading because when most people hear or read the word “average” they think “most” Americans have that much debt, but in reality that’s not what that means at all! Certainly some Americans are way over that $9,000 mark and some fall way under it, but we do not have exact figures. Another reason that statistic is misleading is because Cardweb.com does not say whether that figure includes “good” debt like college loans and home loans or if it’s all simply “bad” debt, the things people put on credit and consume quickly. If it contains “good” debt, then I don’t feel a $9,000 average is that bad at all! We, as readers, are just not provided with enough information. We ought to take statistics given to us, especially this one, with a grain of salt.

By: finance

finance — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:31:47 +0000

I found a quote worth mentioning to get rid of these credit card debts

“One coffee a day which costs $1.50 at a local coffee shop is worth $547.00 from your pocket. Lets give up the coffee habit and go for the gold!” Source: http://www.newcreditpro.info

How about using that $45/month to put a little money down on those credit card debts. Or if you are like me, and pay for 3-4 coffees per day! Then you got a load of cash if you don’t drink coffee to put money on your credit card.

By: Steve "The Credit Card Debt Relief Man" B

Steve "The Credit Card Debt Relief Man" B — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:41:34 +0000

I hate lies and it does suck when the newspapers are printing them to candy coat America’s consumer debt problem

By: David

David — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:37:07 +0000

“I wonder why the CC industry hasn’t vigorously disputed that statistic?”

Easy, it gives them more business. It is clear from the statistics that 92% of all people carry less than $9k on their credit card. That is several hundred million of people who won’t feel bad slipping an extra plasma TV on their credit card, because after all, it makes them average. The CC industry wants people to think building huge balances is what everybody does, because they want people to use their cards more often and want new people to sign up. After all, it’s the American way.

By: Fellowes

Fellowes — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:35:34 +0000

Let’s assume the data is correct, 8.3% of nearly 120 million households, still represents nearly 10 million households with more than 9K in credit card debt. While certainly not a debt pandemic, that is still a HUGE problem in my humble opinion. I also wonder how many of those 10 million are “extreme debtors” like myself.

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:57:58 +0000

JLP,

How about running a poll so we could report our balances? Actually, you can just read mine off my blog’s graph, but that might serve as an interesting poll. Sure it would have to have some caveats that PF blog readers are sensitive to managing their money. But this crowd seems to run the gamut between heavy debtors and people who don’t use credit cards at all.

It would have to be the honor system of course, but it might have some interesting results!

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:17:11 +0000

You know, I just have to wonder (and yes, this probably falls into a major conspiracy theory category) if keeping the numbers high is a way to make people more comfortable with the amount of debt they carry, and therefore piling on more. As in, “Oh, I carry $7000 worth of credit card debt, but that’s not bad! Let’s pack on some more debt- I’m still under the average.” Numbers like that always make me suspicious. I know that my own debt is high, and slowly going down, but I don’t need to know where I fall on an “Average Scale”. I don’t want to be made comfortable with the amount of debt I have- it scares me and that motivates me to get rid of it. Am I making sense here?

By: broknowrchlatr

broknowrchlatr — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:48:50 +0000

I hate when people whine just because they are bad at math. This is one situation where neather the mean, nor the median tells you much.

“Only 8.3% of households owe $9,000 or more on their cards. ” – is it just me, or is that still a big number. Remember, this in an exponential scale. So, maybe 8.3% owe $9000 or more, but many owe a LOT more. I know a neighbor that owes a few times that.