U.S. consumers carry $6,501 in credit card debt on average, according to Experian data, but if your balance is much higher—say, $20,000 or beyond—you may feel hopeless. Paying off a high credit card balance can be a daunting task, but it is possible.
Key takeaways. Debt-to-income ratio is your monthly debt obligations compared to your gross monthly income (before taxes), expressed as a percentage. A good debt-to-income ratio is less than or equal to 36%. Any debt-to-income ratio above 43% is considered to be too much debt.
Among borrowers who attended some college but don't have a bachelor's degree, the median owed was between $10,000 and $14,999 in 2023. The typical bachelor's degree holder who borrowed owed between $20,000 and $24,999. Among borrowers with a postgraduate degree the median owed was between $40,000 and $49,999.
In the US, for an undergraduate degree, $50000 of debt would certainly be above average. For a graduate degree, that amount is par. For a professional degree, that amount would be considered low.
If you cannot afford to pay your minimum debt payments, your debt amount is unreasonable. The 28/36 rule states that no more than 28% of a household's gross income should be spent on housing and no more than 36% on housing plus other debt.
According to Experian, average total consumer household debt in 2023 is $104,215. That's up 11% from 2020, when average total consumer debt was $92,727.
Debt could improve your life
The truth is that debt is often a necessary part of our personal finance picture. Few of us could buy our first homes without mortgages. We may also borrow to purchase cars, get necessary medical care, get married, or take bucket-list trips. Debt sometimes helps us make more money.
If it's between 43% to 50%, take action to reduce your debt load; consulting a nonprofit credit counseling agency may be helpful. If it's 50% or more, your debt load is high risk; consider getting advice from a bankruptcy attorney.
“No matter what your income, $100,000 in debt is a very significant amount. The first step to take is to acknowledge it is a problem and that you need to take action now; it's not going to disappear on its own.”
At the close of 2019, the average household had a credit card debt of $7,499. During the first quarter of 2021, it dropped to $6,209. In 2022, credit card debt rose again to $7,951 and has increased linearly. In 2023, it reached $8,599 — $75 shy of the 2024 average.
Here's the average debt balances by age group: Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $9,593. Millennials (ages 24 to 39): $78,396. Gen X (ages 40 to 55): $135,841.
For example, a general rule of thumb is if roughly half of your monthly income is committed to debt payments, there's a good chance you have too much debt. Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is a reliable benchmark for evaluating the health of your personal indebtedness.
The Standard Route is what credit companies and lenders recommend. If this is the graduate's choice, he or she will be debt free around the age of 58. It will take a total of 36 years to complete. It's a whole lot of time but it's the standard for a lot of people.
35% or less: Looking Good - Relative to your income, your debt is at a manageable level.
Running up $50,000 in credit card debt is not impossible. About two million Americans do it every year. Paying off that bill?
Nearly eight in ten students graduate with less than $30,000 in debt. Among those who do borrow, the average debt at graduation is $27,100 — or $6,775 for each year of a four-year degree at a public university.
When you take out a mortgage, you agree to repay the loan over a set timeframe, typically 15 or 30 years. Paying off your mortgage ahead of time can have a lot of benefits for homeowners — including paying less interest, earning equity in your home faster and dropping mortgage insurance earlier.
This can leave borrowers with six-figure education debt worried that typical student loan advice may not apply to their situation. And the number of borrowers with high education debt is growing. As of 2023, there are one million federal student loan borrowers who owe $200,000 or more, according to StudentAid.gov.
Is $5,000 a lot of debt? The answer will depend on your credit limits. If you have $10,000 in available credit across two cards, then your utilization is 50%, which is a bit high and can hurt your credit score. But if you have $20,000 in credit across three cards, you're only using 25%, which is in a healthy range.
To pay off $15,000 in credit card debt within 36 months, you will need to pay $543 per month, assuming an APR of 18%. You would incur $4,558 in interest charges during that time, but you could avoid much of this extra cost and pay off your debt faster by using a 0% APR balance transfer credit card.
"Debt fatigue is basically along the lines of feeling depressed and downtrodden by chronic financial difficulties," says Brad Klontz, a clinical psychologist and certified financial planner.