If your total balance is more than 30% of the total credit limit, you may be in too much debt. Some experts consider it best to keep credit utilization between 1% and 10%, while anything between 11% and 30% is typically considered good.
If you have credit card debt, you're not alone. On average, Americans carry $6,194 in credit card debt, according to the 2019 Experian Consumer Credit Review.
Lots of people have credit card debt, and the average balance in the U.S. is $6,194. About 52% of Americans owe $2,500 or less on their credit cards. If you're looking at $5,000 or higher, you should really get motivated to knock out that debt quickly. The sooner you do, the less money you'll lose to interest.
How much debt is a lot? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends you keep your debt-to-income ratio below 43%. Statistically speaking, people with debts exceeding 43 percent often have trouble making their monthly payments.
The average debt for individual consumers dropped from $6,194 in 2019 to $5,315 in 2020. In fact, the average balance declined in every state.
How much money does the average American owe? According to a 2020 Experian study, the average American carries $92,727 in consumer debt. Consumer debt includes a variety of personal credit accounts, such as credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, and student loans.
The simplest way to make this calculation is to divide $10,000 by 12. This would mean you need to pay $833 per month to have contributed your goal amount to your debt pay-off plan. This number, though, doesn't factor in the interest on your debt.
Many people would likely say $30,000 is a considerable amount of money. Paying off that much debt may feel overwhelming, but it is possible. With careful planning and calculated actions, you can slowly work toward paying off your debt.
High credit may also be called “high balance” or “original amount.” This figure is the highest monthly balance or highest amount of credit you have owed on a specific credit card account or loan during a particular period of time as determined by the bank.
Credit Card Debt Trends
In Q4 2021, the average credit cardholder in the U.S. had $5,934 in credit card debt in Q4 2021 — about 0.6% less than Q4 2020's $5,968 average. During this same period, Americans opened 26 million more credit card accounts.
The simple answer is that having minimal credit card debt is the best policy. The more complex answer: “it depends.” How much credit card debt is okay for one person may not be okay for the next – it all depends on your financial situation, your spending habits and your overall credit limits.
To summarize, at an income level of $50,000 annually, or $4,167 per month, a reasonable amount of debt would be anything below the maximum threshold of $188,500 in mortgage debt and an additional $17,500 in other personal debt (a car loan, in this instance).
Credit card issuers require borrowers to make a minimum monthly payment on their debt that's typically between 2% and 4% of the total balance owed, Experian reports. This means it could take more than 22 years to repay $20,000 worth of debt by making the minimum credit card payment.
In order to pay off $30,000 in credit card debt within 36 months, you need to pay $1,087 per month, assuming an APR of 18%. While you would incur $9,116 in interest charges during that time, you could avoid much of this extra cost and pay off your debt faster by using a 0% APR balance transfer credit card.
The best way to pay off $3,000 in debt fast is to use a 0% APR balance transfer credit card because it will enable you to put your full monthly payment toward your current balance instead of new interest charges. As long as you avoid adding new debt, you can repay what you owe in a matter of months.