USA Personal Debt Statistics

Posted in Credit Advice on October 22nd, 2009
Personal Debt Statistics

Personal Debt Statistics

More and more Americans are attempting to reign in their debt levels. This is what a recession will do. The fact of the matter is simple: tough economic times show many people just how important their money is. So instead of continuing to spend, they began to pay off debt. In 2007, personal debt increased at a rate of 10 percent. For 2009 this number has fallen off dramatically and is now at three percent. It will be interesting to see if this percentage declines even further over the next couple of years.

Here are some interesting USA personal debt level statistics:

  1. Approximately 43 percent of Americans spend more money than they earn in a year.
  2. The average United States household carries roughly $8,000 in credit card debt.
  3. In the past decade the number of personal bankruptcies has more than doubled. Often bankruptcy is used as a financial tool (almost like a credit cards) by American consumers to handle their debt.
  4. In October 2003, only six years ago, Americans owed a total of $1.9773 trillion. This number has risen significantly since that date. Believe it or not, this number does not include mortgage debt.
  5. The number of Americans facing tax debt is increasing. The reason for this? When the tax bill comes due they do not have the money to pay it, along with other expenses. This forces them to put the IRS on the backburner. The interest charged by the IRS causes this type of debt to increase exponentially over time.

Who is profiting from America’s debt habit? A simple comparison of the rise in consumer debt with the rise in credit card profits is very interesting. Here are some statistics from 2008:

  1. Major USA Credit Card Issuers in 2008:
  2. Chase: $780 million in profits
  3. Bank of America: $520 million in profits
  4. Citi: $530 million overall loss
  5. American Express: $850 million in profits
  6. Capital One: $1 billion in profits
  7. Discover: $710 million in profits
  8. Wells Fargo: $990 million in profits
  9. HSBC: $520 million in profits
  10. US Bank: $1.07 billion in profits


This post is under “Credit Advice” and has no respond so far.
If you enjoy this article, make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed.

Post a reply




« »