Wireless Credit Card Terminal

You’re Not Alone: Credit Card Statistics
By Karen Walker

Do you have any idea just how common credit cards are? Let’s
take a look at a few statistics from the USA.

The average family carries a balance of between $5,000 and
$8,000 on all their credit cards, depending on which figures
you believe. Over $1,000 per family goes on interest every
year. And that’s just the average – some people owe much more!
Overall, Americans spend over $1 trillion every year on their
credit cards, and owe more than $500 billion of it.

If debt continues at the current rate, then one family in a
hundred will be forced into bankruptcy. Over 90% of Americans’
disposable incomes are spent paying back debts. Whatever
happened to saving?

Debt Costs Everyone Money.

Literally billions of dollars are being used up on expenses
that are only created because of the existence of the credit
card industry. The weight of the calculations, administration
and marketing needed to support the industry is immense – the
average American gets at least one credit card offer in the
mail every day.

That’s before you take into account the burden bankruptcies put
on the court system, and the cost to the government of providing
subsidised debt counselling. You might also note that consumers
with more debt have less to spend – and when money isn’t
flowing, it hurts the economy. There are very few industries or
people that aren’t hurt by debt, at least in the long run.

Debt is Much More Common Than It Used To Be.

It’s not so long ago that being in even a little debt was
considered to be absolutely terrible. When you wanted
something, you saved up for it, and bought it once you had
enough money. If you had bad credit, you couldn’t get a credit
card at all. Go back fifty years and consumer debt figures were
absurdly low, the same way they are today in most of the
non-Western world.

In the West, though, the art of saving seems to be a lost one –
almost no-one is saving enough for their retirement, and banks
are having to offer ever-higher interest rates to get people to
put money anywhere near a savings account. We have an
‘I-want-it-now’ consumer culture, and we’re willing to pay more
than we can afford to fund our lifestyles.

Spending Isn’t To Blame.

Now that I’ve said that, don’t think that the reason you’re in
debt is that you haven’t spent your money cautiously enough.
According to statistics, it is very rare for people to get into
debt because they spend their money frivolously. Far more people
get buried in debt because they lose their job, or get sick –
they take out credit cards to pay for basic expenses, and fall
into the interest trap. Their debt spirals out of control from
just a few thousand dollars borrowed to pay for essentials.

Most people have a reasonable sense of what they can afford,
and won’t go out and use credit cards to buy things that they
wouldn’t usually be able to pay for. The problem is simply a
matter of people leaving their balances on credit cards for too
long, not realising just how high the interest really is.

About the Author: Karen Walker assists individuals,
entrepreneurs, network marketers, and independent professionals
generate substantial incomes within 5 years so that they may
live the life they want, fulfill their passions, and achieve
their dreams! Visit her informational web sites:
http://www.cashflowquest.com | http://www.income-directory.com

Source: http://www.isnare.com