US Consumer Debt Statistics

These are not happy statistics.  Debt can help the economy and even consumers when used properly, but unfortunately these numbers are instead scary.

Statistics of a recent Consumer Reports survey:

• One-third of Americans do not own a credit card.
• 54% pay their balance in full each month
• 33% carry balances up to $10,000 (median balance: $2,254)
• 13% carry balances over $10,000 (median balance: $17,366)
• 21% of consumers said they were treated unfairly by card companies and 32% have paid off and closed a card since January 2008. Half of those that canceled did so in direct response to the actions of credit-card issuers, such as cutting limits, hiking rates, or imposing fees.
• 45% of survey respondents say they are charging less
• 11% are charging more than they did a year ago
(source: Consumer Reports Magazine, November 2009)

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