Are Americans flirting with financial disaster? That’s what new data from WalletHub suggest.
According to the personal finance website, United States consumers added approximately $33 billion in credit card debt during the second-quarter of this year. This is more than the debt accumulated during the same time in the April-to-June period in 2007.
In addition, the report states, total outstanding credit card debt reached $936 billion, which means the country is on track to surpass $1 trillion by the end of 2017.
Here is a chart that looks at total outstanding credit card debt since the first quarter of 1986:
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, borrowing costs are going to surge. With most households living paycheck to paycheck, many more homes are going to be underwater because they can’t service their debts.
No biggy. Since CC debt is unsecured no one should be losing their home because of CC debt. Now if you were stupid and got an adjustable rate home loan, who the fool. Inflation since 2007 has lowered buying power by 14%, so many are having to turn to CC debt, but there are some great zero interest deals out there. I just purchased a new refrigerator at Lowe’s for $599 interest free for 12 months. That is just $50 per month.