On a seemingly daily basis, the amount of debt that the average American owes on their credit cards is increasing. The entire financial world, not just the credit card market, is being affected by this trend. Mortgages, school loans, car loans, bankruptcies, and foreclosures are all affected by the average rate of credit card debt.

Credit card debt consolidation and other even more extreme methods that people turn to in order to eliminate their credit card debt have become more popular as the average credit card debt has gone up. Consider the actual statistics on credit card debt in America to see if the situation is really all that serious.

Average Credit Card Debt in US ??" The Facts

Here are some of the statistics. The average American credit card is carrying a balance right now of about $1,000. If the cardholder pays nothing more than their minimum two percent payment on that balance each month, they will have finally paid off the entire balance after twenty two long years. During that time, the interest charged to the account will reach $2,300.

The average American household is looking at almost $8500 in credit card debt as a national average. However, the average credit debt among those who have at least one card is over $9000. That means since 1990 the average credit debt has tripled in size.

If you are wondering, what you spend in interest or even if you have not worried about until now, the average American spends more than $1200 a year in just interest payments alone.

This means that the average interest charges that are being paid on credit cards are larger than those that individuals have to pay for their rent or mortgage payment.

On average, the interest rate for credit cards is 18.9% and it is going up. Some cards have introduction rates of as high as 23% and as much as 30% for those with damaged credit. 50% of Americans would never tell a friend how much they own in credit card debt, 23% have maxed their cards, 13% are late 30 days on payments within the last 12 months, and 11% admit their cards when into collections.