25 Fascinating Facts About Personal Debt
By Paul Bannister

Average credit card debt among all American households is $8,400.

Average card debt among people who have at least one card is $9,205 -- triple what it was in 1990.

Average personal wealth of a 50-year-old American, including home equity: less than $40,000.

A typical American family today pays about $1,200 annually in credit card interest.

The average interest rate on credit cards is 18.9 percent.

Last year the credit card industry took in $43 billion in card fees.

Nine of 10 Americans claim credit card debt has never been a source of worry.

But 47 percent would refuse to tell a friend how much they owe.

Twenty-three percent of Americans admit to maxing out a credit card.

Eleven percent of Americans admit card debts went to collection.

Thirteen percent of Americans have been 30 days late paying credit card bills in the past year.

The average graduate student has six credit cards and one in seven owes more than $15,000.

People using credit cards in fast food restaurants spend up to 50 percent more than when they pay cash.

The personal savings rate in the United States has dropped from 8 percent in the 1980s to just under 2 percent since 2000.

Medical debts sink the ship in one of every 20 bankruptcies. Typical health care debt: $25,000. Typical victim: a senior on a fixed income. Typical scenario: pricey prescriptions bought on high-interest credit cards.

Paul Bannister is a freelance writer based in Oregon.

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