As of August 2022, the average credit card debt was reported to be $2907. This is a slight improvement of figures from 2019, where debt was estimated to be just over A$3200. This may be down partly because the total number of credit cards in circulation has also dropped slightly since 2019.
On average, Americans carry around $5,733 in credit card debt, according to TransUnion's latest report. But when you break it down by age, most carry more than that.
Most Americans have some credit card debt. A recent GOBankingRates survey found that 30% of Americans have between $1,001 and $5,000 in credit card debt, 15% have $5,001 or more in credit card debt and about 6% have more than $10,000 in credit card debt.
The average household with revolving credit card debt — that is, debt that they carry from one month to the next — had more than $7,000 worth of revolving balances in 2019. That's just the average. It's not at all uncommon for households to be swimming in more that twice as much credit card debt.
Is $2,000 too much credit card debt? $2,000 in credit card debt is manageable if you can make the minimum payments each month, or ideally more than that. But if it's hard to keep up with your payments, it's not manageable, and that debt can grow quickly due to interest charges.
Average consumer household debt in 2023
According to Experian, average total consumer debt in 2022 was $101,915. That's up nearly 10% from 2020, when average total consumer debt was $92,727.
Running up $50,000 in credit card debt is not impossible. About two million Americans do it every year. Paying off that bill? Well, that's not impossible either, though it is considerably less fun.
$20,000 is a lot of credit card debt and it sounds like you're having trouble making progress,” says Rossman.
Individuals with a classic FICO score above 795 use an average 7% of their available credit. As your revolving debt climbs, your credit score will begin dropping — long before it reaches the recommended utilization limit of 30% of your available credit.
A good goal is to be debt-free by retirement age, either 65 or earlier if you want. If you have other goals, such as taking a sabbatical or starting a business, you should make sure that your debt isn't going to hold you back.
What percentage of America is debt-free? According to that same Experian study, less than 25% of American households are debt-free. This figure may be small for a variety of reasons, particularly because of the high number of home mortgages and auto loans many Americans have.
The median credit card debt per American family is $2,700, while the average is $6,270. Consumers' average credit card balance is $5,910 (up from $5,315 in 2020). Overall, Americans owe $986 billion across nearly 573 million credit card accounts. Below, you'll find some of the most prominent trends that emerged.
Many people would likely say $30,000 is a considerable amount of money. Paying off that much debt may feel overwhelming, but it is possible. With careful planning and calculated actions, you can slowly work toward paying off your debt. Follow these steps to get started on your debt-payoff journey.
Credit cards are another example of a type of debt that generally doesn't have forgiveness options. Credit card debt forgiveness is unlikely as credit card issuers tend to expect you to repay the money you borrow, and if you don't repay that money, your debt can end up in collections.
Debt is part of the average American's life, and you can start to accumulate it as young as your 20s. New findings from Experian's 2020 State of Credit report show that the average Gen Z consumer (ages 24 and younger) has about $10,942 worth of debt, not including mortgages.
People are paying more for food, housing and gas. Generally, it's the practical stuff that gets people into credit card debt," said Ted Rossman, credit expert at CreditCards.com. "It's all contributing to increased balances."
The report reveals that more than a third (36%) of U.S. adults owe more money in credit card debt than they have saved.
Now that we've defined debt-to-income ratio, let's figure out what yours means. Generally speaking, a good debt-to-income ratio is anything less than or equal to 36%. Meanwhile, any ratio above 43% is considered too high. The biggest piece of your DTI ratio pie is bound to be your monthly mortgage payment.
The United States has the world's highest national debt at $31.4 trillion. Global debt currently stands at $305 trillion, $45 trillion higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) – a global association of the financial industry.
Approximately 16% of Americans have bad credit, according to Experian data. What the Experian data indicates is that more people have very good credit scores than have bad or subprime credit scores. This may come as a surprise to some, but most people in the U.S have pretty good credit.