Credit card debt is expensive, which is why you want to pay it off quickly. And yet, about 60% of those who carry a balance say they’ve had credit card debt for at least a year, according to a new report from CreditCards.com.
“The percentage of people who have been in credit card debt for at least a year increased substantially — a whopping 10 percentage points from last year,” says Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com.
More than half of those surveyed said losing their job and continued high inflation would have a major impact on their ability to make even the minimum payments over the next 12 months.
By only making the minimum payments, you avoid penalty fees, but you don’t get ahead. And with interest rates going up, you’re only going to fall further behind.
“If you have the average credit card balance ($5,270 according to TransUnion) and you only make minimum payments at the average interest rate of about 18.17%, you’ll be in debt for more than 16 years, and will end up paying a grand total of $11,875,” Rossman said. “This helps illustrate why it’s so important to pay way more than the minimum.”
