American Household Credit Card Debt a Growing Burden

American households with credit card debt have an average of $16,061 of it, according a study from NerdWallet.

NerdWallet adds that consumers who carry credit card debt pay an average of $1,292 per year in interest on it.

Now, maybe you read that top line statistic and say, “great! I’m below the average.” But there are two big points to consider when it comes to credit card debt:

It’s all relative. Just about any amount of credit card debt becomes unsustainable when you lose a job. Keep that in mind before you accumulate it.
All credit card debt is stupidly expensive. Credit cards are a sucker bet. Meaning, the companies that issue them are betting against you at every step.

They are betting that you won’t pay balances off before “0 interest” promo deals expire. They are betting that you will maintain balances bearing double-digit interest.

In other words, it’s all bad debt. You need to pay off your credit cards each month.

If you can’t, go see your credit union. You CU can help you to consolidate high-interest debt into a lower-interest loan.

Again, the best solution is to pay of those cards each month. If you can’t go see your CU before you find yourself shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars on interest.