Americans Taking Few Measures to Reduce Credit-Card Debt
About half (48 percent) of all Americans have credit-card
debt, yet nearly one-third (30 percent) have taken no steps
beyond monthly payments to reduce it in the last 18 months.
That's the finding of a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive
that assessed Americans' attitudes about and behavior towards
their credit-card debt.
Reducing monthly expenditures (such as eating out, entertainment,
travel, rent, and cable television costs) was the most common
way (other than making regular monthly payments) for debtors
to try to alleviate their debt. Two in five (43 percent) said
they had made those efforts in the past 18 months.
Yet only 28 percent had transferred credit-card balances
to lower interest-rate cards and just 13 percent had contacted
creditors to negotiate reduced interest rates or payment plans
in the past 18 months.
According to the survey, 52 percent of all credit-card indebted
Americans have had credit-card debt for between two and five
or more years. Fully one-fifth have not been credit-card debt-free
for five years or more; 11 percent claim they have never been
without credit-card debt.
Debt is the biggest problem for adults between the ages of
25 and 45. Two out of three (66 percent) people age 18-24
say they have no credit-card debt at all. However, credit-card
debt becomes far more prevalent after age 25; consumers between
that age and age 34 the percent of people without credit cards
crops to just 37 percent. Between the ages of 35 and 44, the
precentage drops even lower, to 36 percent. After age 45,
however, credit-card debt becomes less of a problem. For those
age 45-54, 38 percent say they are without credit-cad debt.
By age 55-64, 48 percent have no credit-card debt, and nearly
two-thirds (61 percent) of those over 65 are free of credit-card
debt.
The Banklady's tips to reduce credit card debt:
"a FEW things you can do"
1. DO NOT waste money on Gambling and Lotteries- more and
more Americans are throwing money out the window and giving
it to these illegal foreign gambling services or state lotteries
that have awful odds of winning.
2. Watch less movies, eat out less, find a bank that does
not charge a monthly checking fee. Little things like that
go a long way!
Options to reduce high-interest Credit Card Debt-
1. Consolidate
your Debt. Use a online debt consolidation service.
2. IF you own a home: Pay off Credit Card Debt with a Debt
Consolidation Loan.
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