131–140 of 231 posts
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Please stop with this heart-breaking narrative about the unequal in income, starving americans. It's about iphones and clothes, not groceries.
> Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secre...
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Your feelings are way off. Most credit card debt is not paid off every month. Not by a very very long shot. Average credit card debt per U.S. adult, excluding zero-balance cards and store cards: $5,232.43 Average debt per credit card that usually carries a balance: $7,494.44 Average number of cards held by cardholders - bankcards: 2.24 Average debt per credit card that doesn't usually carry a balance: $1,128.44 http:…
I sadly think those numbers are low-balled. But also, everyone complies their stats differently. I have 10 credit cards. I find it strange the average is barely 2. Most people I know hold ~5 but only use 1-2. But I also think the average debt per household is higher too. Since your numbers are 'per us adult'. Regardless, I think US citizens are carrying way too much debt and...one day, this musical chairs dance will…
The right, most informative conclusion about one $10k balance and 9 $0 balances is that "almost everyone in this group carries no balances, but one carries unmanageable debt", not "the average credit card debt is a manageable but significant $1000".
Statistics guarantees they are guaranteed to be high, not low. Medians and top/bottom percentiles would be more informative.
Honest question. There aren't debit cards in the united states? They are simple plastic cards like credit carda but the bank is withdrawing your money directly from your account. There is not debt involved.
They do exist. However "as a convenience" they allow overdrafts at ridiculously high costs. AFAIK you can't shut this feature off and just have charges declined if there isn't enough money in the account.
Honest question. There aren't debit cards in the united states? They are simple plastic cards like credit carda but the bank is withdrawing your money directly from your account. There is not debt involved.
They do exist. However "as a convenience" they allow overdrafts at ridiculously high costs. AFAIK you can't shut this feature off and just have charges declined if there isn't enough money in the account.
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Your feelings are way off. Most credit card debt is not paid off every month. Not by a very very long shot. Average credit card debt per U.S. adult, excluding zero-balance cards and store cards: $5,232.43 Average debt per credit card that usually carries a balance: $7,494.44 Average number of cards held by cardholders - bankcards: 2.24 Average debt per credit card that doesn't usually carry a balance: $1,128.44 http:…
> Average credit card debt per U.S. adult, excluding zero-balance cards and store cards: $5,232.43 That is amazing and terrifying.
They say the average US household has $15,762 of Credit Card debt.[0] (that's disputed it could be from 5K to 15K depending on what numbers you believe) [1]
With an average rate of 15.07%[2]
Which works out to something like a minimum payment of $600 a month with $188 of it going to interest.
The Average US consumer is not just tapped out but actively being strangled by debt.
"47: The percentage of Americans who can’t pay for an unexpected $400 expense through savings or credit cards"[3]
What this really means is a near majority of the country is on the very brink of bankruptcy one trip to the ER (with insurance) or a tire blowout and down they go.
The terrifying part is that any hint of recession and the ripple effect could take a lot of us down with it.
[0] https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-cre... [1] http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/images/infograph... [2] http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/interest-rate-re... [3] http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2014-report-econom...
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Well the median is an average so... And honestly both averages should be presented together, paints a terrifying picture
Median is the middle value of all values in a sequence. Average is the sum of all numbers in a sequence, divided by the count of values. Take [0,2,100]: average is 34, but median is 2.
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> Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secre...
If they have their CCs maxed out for clothes and bar tabs, of course that's gonna be the case.
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> Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secre...
I'd be interested to see your (or anyone from that article's) monthly spending/expenses and income. Do you have crazy medical bills or student loans that you can't avoid? Do you budget your money out and track every transaction? It sucks to be in that situation, but there are always things you can do to improve it.
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In a country with a GDP per capita (not per adult, to be clear - this includes non-adults) of around $50k, why would you feel that's terrifying?
Because we know that wealth is distributed unequally, and that a scrupulous individual earning $35k gross might have a cash flow under $1k.
