Poll of the Day > Personal debt

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mortgage for me!

Probably my credit card atm with whatever charge is gonna be paid off within the week.
I should eventually have a mortgage.

I keep taking out loans to buy Superman comics.
He's such a hunk

That's a bit of an odd way to phrase the question. My most pressing debt is my credit card bill, in that the interest rate is much higher than anything else and I pay it off as soon as I can, but that's not a debt I carry long-term. I pay it off every month, such that in the entire time I've had my cards I've paid a grand total of like 70 cents in interest because I forgot to pay it on time once. My largest debt is my student loan, but that's not very "pressing" in that it's zero-interest and I just keep making slightly more than the minimum payments on it (when they took the interest off of the federal part, I just adjusted my payment to match what I was already paying with interest for the sake of bringing the principal down a bit faster). Otherwise, I bought my car outright, have no medical debt because Canadia, and the only mortgage I pay is someone else's.

Is maintaining a lot of debt uniquely American? I don't really hear about people in other countries in a lot of debt... although most people don't count mortgage as a debt even though it clearly is one

Mortgage is the only debt I have right now.

Aside from credit card debt, but that's not really "debt" given that I pay it every month and don't leave a balance outstanding.

Just my credit card balance, currently under $50.

Just my mortgage, but I actually am at the point now where I could pay it off with what I have in my checking account right now and get it over with. However, I am just making slightly above the normal payments as I have been doing for a while and will just let it get payed off over time.

Otherwise, nothing. Payed off all student loans, no car payment, pay off credit card every month, no personal loans.

Lokarin posted...

Is maintaining a lot of debt uniquely American? I don't really hear about people in other countries in a lot of debt... although most people don't count mortgage as a debt even though it clearly is one

The American economy is basically built off of debt. If Americans weren't in debt, the economy would collapse.

I don't have any.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/08/economy/us-household-credit-card-debt/index.html

Americans credit card debt hits a record $1 trillion

Americans credit card debt levels have just notched a new, but undesirable, milestone: For the first time ever, theyve surpassed $1 trillion, according to data released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

During the second quarter, credit card balances shot up by $45 billion, or nearly 4.6%, to land at $1.03 trillion, according to the New York Feds latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.

Rising credit card debt and auto loan balances helped to drive overall household debt levels up 1%, to $17.06 trillion for the quarter, the report showed. Overall household debt has spiked by $2.9 trillion since the end of 2019, before the pandemic. The New York Feds debt balances are nominal and not adjusted for inflation.

These increases are coming at a time when interest rates have quickly vaulted to a 22-year high.

-----

The US population was 331.9 million in 2021, with 259.2 million people above age 18 and 131.2 million households. So the average credit card debt is about $3,858 per person, and the average household debt is $130,000.

Student loans and its not even close. But, my payments are 0, and Im on the PSLF track, so they should be forgiven in a decade and Ill have paid nothing towards them.

Other than that, nothing really. I pay my credit cards off every week. I dont own a home. I bought my car with cash five years ago. I would have medical debt Im sure, but I dont see doctors because I dont have the money to cover the cost.

Dikitain posted...

The American economy is basically built off of debt. If Americans weren't in debt, the economy would collapse.

Most modern currency is built on national debt to some degree. The UK still owes debts from hundreds of years ago. And trying to pay off those debts would destabilize the economy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt