Los Angeles, CA
Today. A recent article from Nasdaq.com tackles 2014 American credit card debt statistics. According to the Federal Reserve, total consumer debt as of July 2014 is $3.24 trillion dollars. This includes car loans, student loans, and unsecured revolving debt, but not mortgages. Total revolving unsecured revolving debt which is chiefly credit card debt totals $880.5 billion dollars.
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/credit-card-debt-statistics-cm393820
Average credit card debt has increased over the long term. On average, consumers born between 1980 and 1984 have $5,689 more in credit card debt than their parents born in between 1950 and 1954. During the Great Recession of 2008, credit card debt fell, but has now crept up in the second quarter of 2014 to $5,234 per person.
Credit card issuers divided consumers into two groups, transactors and revolvers. Credit card transactors use their credit cards but pay off the balance each month and do not float credit card debt. Credit card revolvers carry a balance on their credit cards from one month to the next therefore incurring interest charges they must pay. Currently in America 15% of adults are credits card revolvers. This equates to more than 35 million people that roll over $2500 or more in unpaid credit card debt each month.
With so many people in debt, credit card debt problems remain taboo to discuss. A poll from creditcards.com found that 85% of respondents were unlikely or somewhat unlikely to talk to a stranger about credit card debt. That finding makes credit card debt more off limits socially than other topics polled including religion, politics, salary, and love life details.
Credit card debt and interest charges have a more profound effect on businesses. Only 50% of small businesses are transactors that pay off their credit card debt each month. 26% of businesses carry a balance of under $10,000. 15% float balances between $10,000 and $25,000. 9% of businesses float credit card balances of over $25,000.