Forty-three percent have at least $15,000 in credit card debt and 58% of Americans have hidden their credit card debt from a significant other according to Student Loan Hero survey.

The survey reported Americans have more credit card debt than ever, more than $1 trillion in December 2017, according to the Federal Reserve. That works out to an average of $8,732 per household, based on current census data.

While 58% of the people we surveyed carried at least $6,000 on their credit cards for more than a year, 48% of the people surveyed have never tried to consolidate their credit card debt.

While credit card consolidation loans providing by credit unions, other financial institutions and online lenders offer relief, many of those surveyed gave varied reasons for not pursuing them, meaning the decision can be complicated. Among their responses: “Afraid it will hurt credit score,” “Worried about getting scammed,” “Don't have a good enough credit score,” “Seems like too much work,” “Don't want to extend time in debt” and “Don't think it will save money.” Additionally, 11% of the people surveyed had not even heard of credit card consolidation.

Other survey findings included:

  • Fifty-eight percent have carried credit card debt for more than a year; and 21% have carried credit card debt for more than two years.
  • Twenty-four percent are paying an average APR of 20.00% or more; 9% do not know their interest rate at all.
  • Assuming they continue use a credit card and borrowers make the minimum payment each month, it will take them more than six and a half years to pay off the debt.

Student Loan Hero conducted this survey via Survey Monkey on February 12, 2018 and collected responses from 1,034 adults living in the United States with at least $6,000 in credit card debt.

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Roy Urrico

Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).

Payments/Credit/Debit