Comments on: Is Credit Card Debt a Myth

By: Personal Finance Management Guide

Personal Finance Management Guide — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:22:59 +0000

Clearly, the first step for many of us should be to dramatically reduce credit-card debt and interest payments. Easier said than done, of course. But think about it. Youâ€™ve probably used your credit cards to but furniture, appliances, electronics equipment, and a lot of other great stuff. How much more do you need? Couldnâ€™t you cut up one or more of your credit cards and work out a plan for paying them off? Some experts recommend borrowing against your retirement plan or using a home-equity loan to pay off credit cards. But this strategy only works if you can permanently break only works if you can permanently break the credit card habit, something that not many of us can do. Please follow link to read more…
http://personal-finance-management.blogspot.com/2007/11/easy-way-to-paying-down-your-credit.html

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:10:13 +0000

Liz Weston is making too many incorrect assumptions from the poll taken by GfK Roper. The poll was a phone survey. Now if you are in dept up to your eyeballs are you going to be answering the phone when caller ID says “unavaible”,”out of area”,”unkown”, or some really strange number that looks like it might be a debt collector? No. One more thing to consider is did they account for credit card debts that might have been transfered to another loan (i.e. mortage)? Probably not.

By: Jason Guthrie

Jason Guthrie — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:58:43 +0000

It might not be “credit card” debt, but it’s still “consumer debt” which is the underlying problem. Regardless of where it’s racked up, rising consumer debt brings with it high interest rates and financial problems. Loans for education, a home, a car, etc. are just fine, and are great examples of “healthy debt” but using consumer debt to purchase assets, which are often not needed, should be avoided (IMHO).

By: MG

MG — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:18:36 +0000

I transferred my credit card debt into a consolidation loan. Does that mean it does not count as credit car debt?

By: Alexis

Alexis — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:31:54 +0000

It makes one wonder if the stats posted by those polling aren’t projected higher to make the average person feel that it is ok to escalalte plastic debt?

I am preparing to go back to school and you would be amazed at how many admin. officers to these colleges tell you charge your books/supplies to a cc. If a younger student didn’t have their parents as a financial guide, I can see how that debt could grow out of hand.

Thanks for posting this article. Alexis

By: Pat Veretto

Pat Veretto — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:18:23 +0000

I tend to agree with you, too. $9,300 seems extreme according to what I’ve seen and know about people’s debt. It could be that figure is taking all debt into account as AJ says.

Americans have too much debt, I don’t think anyone can really argue that point. If that were not so, there wouldn’t be so many bankruptcies or repossessions or two or three or more income families just “struggling to get by.” One can live on very little comparatively if one isn’t paying out so much on debt.

By: AJ

AJ — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:17:52 +0000

I agree with you Jason. Americans are in more debt than they should be. I tend to believe Weston that credit card debt is not as rampant as the media portrays, but, as you say, debt through the mortgages, student loans and other sources are probably as bad as the purported credit card average. It makes me wonder if all these reports really mean all debt, but just say credit card debt for simplicity’s or sensationality’s sake.