America sure does love its excess spending and the credit card debt that comes with it. As of March 28, 2024 Forbes reported the below information.
An average of 44.35% of Americans carry credit card debt.
Somehow, despite 44.35% of Americans carrying thousands of dollars in credit card debt, 72% of them fall in the “somewhat confident” to “very confident” range of being able to pay their next credit card bill in FULL.
Where is the disconnect? Do a majority of Americans just not understanding how credit cards and the financial system works?
I think that may be the case as Forbes reported that for each age group, 40-50% of individuals were either unsure or did not know what their interest rate was on their credit cards.
Surely, people who are well versed in the language of finance would know their interest rates. Surely, if people understood the consequences of carrying a balance and how their interest rate is stealing money from them, they wouldn’t do it right?
I’m trying to figure this out, do people understand this stuff, but just don’t care? Do they prefer to keep up with the Jones? Is it a math deficiency, do people not understand the numbers behind it all?
Source: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/credit-card-statistics/