While credit cards can certainly be convenient when shopping, and sometimes even offer a lot of perks, the truth is they can be dangerous, and credit card debt is a real problem for people. But it turns out, a new survey finds that most people don’t really realize just how big a problem it can be.
According to a new “U.S. News & World Report," 24% of those with credit card debt owe more than $10,001, while 25% have cc debt between $1 and $2,000. It also noted that 37% of people carry debt on one card and another 27% carry debt on two. There are even 12% of people with credit debt on five or more cards. And if that isn’t bad enough, 30% of people have no idea how much interest they are paying on those cards each month.
And carrying such debt can certainly have a big impact on people’s lives. In fact, 13% of people say their cc debt results in them struggling to make ends meet, while 15% say it limits their spending.
One way to manage such debt is to transfer a balance to a card with a lower interest rate, yet 48% of people say they’ve never used such a balance offer, and only 17% say they saved money on interest payments by doing so. What’s more, only 12% say they paid off their balance before the offer ended, which means they probably didn’t save any money.
Source: U.S. News & World Report