Americans are carrying a record amount of credit card debt, according to a new study. The average American family has about $7000 in revolving debt compared to $6081 this time last year. And as interest rates rise, so will those monthly payments to service these debts.
This year’s report focused on revolving debt (debt that is carried over month after month) because it is a “more accurate indicator” of financial hardship, said NerdWallet, who compiled the report. “Credit card debt is the stain on millions of Americans’ finances that doesn’t scrub off easily, if ever,” says NerdWallet credit card expert Kimberly Palmer. “High interest rates combined with expenses that continue to outweigh income mean that some households are unable to fully rid themselves of debt and, in fact, continue to take on more.”
Month-to-month credit card balances increased to $420 billion this year, according to NerdWallet‘s report. That’s roughly 5% more than Americans were carrying last year. Even though the talking heads in the media continue to claim the economy is on solid ground because there’s been some wage growth and the unemployment rate is holding steady at 3.7%, higher costs for goods and services (thank the trade war and ever-increasing regulations) have added to the increasing American household debt. The most likely reason for this increase is that the cost of goods and services are rising faster than incomes.
Once accrued, credit card debt can be difficult to pay off. About 9% of Americans don’t think they’ll ever be completely credit card debt-free, according to a NerdWallet survey. But because of the rising interest rates, now is a good time to start paying off that debt. It may seem daunting at first, but it isn’t insurmountable. “Carrying revolving debt and at these levels is a huge drag on household finances,” says Palmer. Palmer says it’s “worrying” that so many Americans doubt their ability to pay off their credit cards: “That just shows how hard it is to pay off debt once it’s accrued.”
HELPFUL TIPS TO PAY OFF YOUR CREDIT CARD DEBT
Here are a few ways to get your debts paid off fast. According to The Penny Hoarder, it’s not as difficult as it seems, but you will have to make sacrifices. The first step is to stop using your cards. You can also close your accounts in order to force yourself to stop using the cards. You should also budget as much as possible towards paying off credit card debt. Consider making cuts to other areas, like dropping unnecessary cell phone plans and cutting back on how many channels you are paying for. You could also consider giving up unnecessary items such as alcohol. You could, for example, use it as motivation to enjoy a drink once you’ve paid every penny of credit card debt back. A good tip also is to choose the smallest debt you have and pay it off as quickly as possible. Once it’s paid off, allocate all of the money that you were spending on that debt to the next largest until it’s gone. Soon enough, you’ll be credit card debt free.
This last tip is a personal favorite, and has helped many! Most credit card companies use an average daily balance to compute interest charges. Instead of paying $400 toward a balance each month, make two payments of $200. You’ll lower the average daily balance — so you’ll pay less interest! Try it out! Do this with the credit card balance you’ve selected for payoff first. Then apply as you whittle away at that pesky debt.
Once you’ve cleared out all of your credit card debt, move on to car payments, home equity loans, and then your mortgage. A debt-free lifestyle is possible!
I abhor paying interest. I do have credit cards and they are paid, in full, each month.
30-year fixed mortgage is 2.875%. Sigh. I’ll never see that rate again.
At least I was able to jump on that rate once. FYI, a VA loan it can be transferred to a fellow qualified veteran who can assume the (mortgage) note. I expect this will be a new area of the RE market, in coming years, with RE agents that specialize in connecting qualified veterans with other veterans to take advantage of the assumable feature of VA home loans.
Want to crash the FED and Banking cartel? Everybody all at the same time stop paying on all credit cards. Most of it is unsecured debt and it would take years to unravel collections.
Always pay your secured debt first, like a house Mortgage and Autos. For your Unsecured Debt, go tell the banks to go pound sand.
FACTOID: Did you know that the Federal Reserve FDIC Insurance Program only has about $25 Billion in insurance bailout money, to cover the $12 Trillion in depositors money in the banks?
Gee what could possible go wrong there?
Not to start a bank run riot here, but what are you doing with any of your assets sitting in any bank? Get ready its a coming. Trade your Fiat fake money in for .999 Fine Silver, 1 Troy Oz Rounds (Real Money).
Yeah. The globalists did a beta test in Cyprius and Greece. What was the beta test? How to do a bail-in and confiscate bank funds. I know, most people weren’t paying attention. They were busy. They thought, “oh who cares about Cyprus? And Greece? Well they deserve it.”
Most Americans still buy all the BS they think will save them. Glass-Steagal was destroyed, by Clinton. The FDIC is a talking point. These people don’t care about anyone that has a net worth of less than $1 billion. We are cattle. If we lose our life savings, or home, or life, it is like squishing an ant. Meaningless to the Globalists, on both sides.
I agree about holding PMs. I like silver and own nearly 100 pounds of physical silver (there is a reason the British Pound is called Sterling). I clean out my bank account every so often, and keep couple grand, of $20s, on hand, in my desk. Why? Just in case.
A couple years ago I read the average family had $15000 in credit card debt. I think that’s more accurate but I could be wrong. In any event, it ain’t me. Here’s an idea, DONT SPEND MORE THAN YOU MAKE.
Or…..don’t pay off the debt. Go into more debt and get cash advances on all the credit cards, max out the HELOC, etc….don’t pay a nickel on anything, and horde all the cash. Then file BK.!!!!
Not advisable if you own your home and have a regular job.
Yeah, he ain’t the brightest crayon in the box. Bwahahahahaha
Neil Bush the son of G H Bush, wrote himself a $100,000 personal loan, and then crashed the Silverado Savings and loan. He also loaned a lot of money to his buddies before it crashed. Well His Daddy G H Bush was president and made sure his son did not have to pay that $100K loan back or do any jail time, and made sure the Tax payers paid that $100K loan for him, through the S&L Bailout.
Fuck the Banks, Fuck the entire Bush Family of Cartel Criminals.
Banks are just a tentacle arm of the Federal Reserve. Nothing more than Predator Loan Sharks.
At least go join a Credit Union and be a sharfeholder. I belong to 2 CU’s, fuck banks.
TSB,
I agree. I too am a member of Two CU’s. Much better service and their deposit insurance is much more solvent. I haven’t had a regular bank account since 1979.
I remember when this site would get 100’s of comments per article. Now I see it struggles to get ~50, most appearing to be bots or shills.. LOL
Good job running off your base Mac
Worked real well for Gavin McInnes and others, thanks for setting the model.
This web site thrives because of its community. While we support lively debates and understand that people get excited, frustrated or angry at times, we ask that the conversation remain civil. Racism, to include any religious affiliation, will not be tolerated on this site, including the disparagement of people in the comments section.
Because back when Mac would only publish about one article per day, and we had all day for conversations and getting feed back, thus more posts per single article. Many articles lately, I just skip over if they are irrelevant or BS Tabloid nonsense.
Outlaw I have been on this site for 8-9 years and have noticed the same. Many articles are not about prepping…I came to learn about prepping and did so reading the constructive comments, plans, do and don’ts. Now its seem a lot of chest thumping, derogatory remarks etc. Maybe we are all older and a bit “in a rut” regarding prepping, IDK.
I do know my spidey senses are up regarding the economy. I was in the residential construction biz in 2008 and lost a ton of cash. I was too busy with my head down to see the sky falling. We are in a bubble regarding stocks, personal debt and government debt. The sky is falling and no one is looking again. Trump distracts with his absurd Tweets, the Russian investigation is another “look over here” distraction and the list goes on.
Mac let’s get this site BACK to prepping. We need it.
Outlaw, long time no hear from. I used to be Braveheart but when I’m Renegade now. How’ve you been?
Let the whole system crash. I’m beyond caring now.
On the plus side, the Chinese are now in the same debt pickle. Only, they are stuck in China, where there is 24/7 surveillance of the population, a social credit system that dictates everything you do, if you can fly or not, who you can date, if you get served swiftly or slowly in the bar or restaurant etc. This system was built using the advice of Google.
We are all being locked down in the digital prison system. Even dirt-poor Africans are being controlled by the short and (black) curlies by debt issued through their cell phones.
Do you talk to strangers, or stop to render assistance…
https://sunflowerchalice.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/iphone-welfare.jpg
http://memecrunch.com/meme/ST79/only-39-per-week-i-can-definitely-afford-that/image.jpg
I love to see ghetto people and pinkos acting as though they have accomplished something, physically, walking around with a giant, nouveau riche chip on their shoulder, and being repo’ed.
The last one told my sister he was living every homie’s dream, with a sportscar in the driveway. Defaulted on his McMansion, in two months.
I saw one luxury car get in three different accidents around town. A foreigner who could not speak English or drive in a straight line gets a luxury car. Finally repo’ed in rush hour traffic.
The legitimate use of credit is to move funds, which you already have in your possession, or to which you are entitled.
afaic, a bank insured against losses and taking sucker bets is committing insurance fraud.
Beaumont, I don’t make enough money to even THINK about credit so that’s why I still buy vehicles for cash only. Financing is a LUXURY I don’t have. Look at how much you have to make to qualify for financing and also have the right kind of credit history on top of that. That’s for rich people.
“Plank #9 of Marx’ “Communist Manifesto”:
Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.
Integration from the inner city was enabled by Obama administration subsidies and insurances, to prop up the banks.
It takes months to evict these people, even if they don’t make a single payment. In some neighborhoods, all the real estate signs are posted with a predictable rhythm — the legal, maximum amount of time it takes to repo a house. They would not have made a single payment — whole neighborhoods.
In my state, you don’t have to make any money, at all, to qualify for financing. Nobody owns anything. They look down their noses at you, like you’re a bad foreigner.
I walked dogs, with cargo shorts, hiking sandals and a beard, on a summer evening, to have Islamists saying how strange I looked — audibly. They are covered from head to toe, in purple dress clothes, in the summer heat, and they default, just like the rest.
Most of the foreigners will act like anything generically white is low-status and criminal, if you go outdoors and run ordinary errands.
The welfare class has a visceral hatred of work or hunting clothes, no matter how well-kempt. Leftist fashion police will say they don’t understand what you need workboots, etc, as though it’s a hateful, political statement.
No debts, here. I find, grow, barter, and bargain-hunt for a table full of good, wholesome food. Like in the article about fun ways to prep. It should be an ordinary way of life.
Sounds like you are doing fine. Ignore those superficial people.
I was influenced by my grandparents. They were born in Aroostoock County, Maine. My grandmother cooked over a woodstove. Bedrooms were unheated, they had quilts. Chamber pots were kept under the bed, for at night. Outhouse was used during the day.
I remember the stuff they said. I was never allowed to make fun of anyone for being dirty, if they were working or wearing work clothes. Ever. Now once you got home, bathing was expected. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that soap and water are cheap. So is a needle and thread (to darn holes in clothes, socks, or replace missing buttons). I was often admonished to mind my language and told that people would judge me by the manner of my speech. Bad grammar was not allowed and quickly corrected by my elders.
The other things I remember hearing: the world doesn’t owe you a living. Nothing in life is free and anyone that tells you that is lying.
My grandparents were humble people, salt of the earth. Not religious, but they were good. My grandfather did two tours in Germany, as infantry. I never heard either one complain in front of me.
There is no shame in working hard, and getting dirty. And anyone that mocks you for being honest and working hard doesn’t have a lick of sense.
You keep on doing what you are doing. And make sure you find a nice lass and make a few babies, okay? We need people like you. You may need to move to a more hospitable area. it’s not impossible it just takes planning.
Respectfully, though, it’s been spreading to all four corners of the country.
Grandfathered houses, here, are allowed more leeway than in new developments.
And, when my conservative-leaning neighbors left, roughly 5-10 Marxists take the spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCcFNL7EmwY&pbjreload=10
You can discreetly count the cars, moving vans, etc, outside of their houses, when going out or doing chores, outside.
If I work with local businesses, I can see how many leftists it takes to do the job of just one person. 5-10 Marxists take the spot.
Normative WASP’s usually don’t appreciate what kind of competition this is.
Too many people are trying to live a magazine lifestyle making less than $50k a year..
This entire Banking Scam could be solved with a stroke of the pen. Here is how Iceland solved this same problem.
Iceland Forgives Entire Population Its Debt and Jails 29 Bankers.
posted 2 years ago
Iceland’s economy was among those hit hardest by the 2008 financial crash, leading to unusually strict treatment of the bankers responsible
While the world economy struggles to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, most of the bankers who caused the collapse are still collecting massive salaries and have faced few, if any, consequences.
Except in Iceland.
In one of the countries hit hardest by the collapse, 29 bankers have now been sentenced to prison for their roles in the crash. According to, Stefan Simanowitz, writing for The Huffington Post on Jan. 5, “Just before Christmas, the former CEO of Iceland’s Glitnir bank and two other senior bankers were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years for market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duties.”
Simanowitz questioned why the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, have been far more lenient on their banks.
“[Not a single senior banking executive in the US or the UK has been jailed for their role in the financial crisis. Whilst banks — such as the five found to be rigging the Libor rate — have been hit with substantial fines, the individual bankers behind the fraud, market rigging and irresponsible lending that led to the economic meltdown have all avoided time behind bars.”
The rest of the article: ht tps://www.offgridquest.com/news/iceland-forgives-entire-population-its-d
Iceland is still part of the international banking system {IMF, BIS, and so on}
They still have a Rothschild central bank
Any country trying to break free will be shattered
Chooze declared war on Germany in 1933- Germany wanted its own money system
I have been telling people about Iceland since it happened. The only country to jail those responsible. Here, we elevated them, put them in govt. We are so screwed. Fortunately we have no debt and saved for the rainy days. Hopefully thats enough.