Credit Card Statistics - When Good Credit Cards Go Bad

According to credit industry statistics, there were 1.3 billion (yes, billion) credit cards in circulation in the United States in 2004. That’s an average of 4.3 credit cards per person. With those credit cards people have racked up more than $2.2 trillion in purchases and cash advances on in just this last year.

For Americans it has become a habit to spend money that they just don’t have. This problem is made worse by the fact that fewer cardholders are paying their credit cards bills on time. The percentage of people delinquent on their credit cards is the highest it’s been in three years and that statistic shows no sigh of stopping.

A 2004 statistic shows that 39% of Americans, on average, pay their cards off in full each month, which is a great strategy to avoid accruing interest. But this also means that the remainder of the population, roughly 60%, is carrying a credit card balance.

Another interesting statistic is that the average American has access to approximately $19,000 across all credit cards combine. From that stat its easy to see why credit card debt overall has grown by 315 percent from 1989 to 2006. Read more…