Credit card debt: Inflation, interest rates have more Americans carrying balances over

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At a time when credit card interest rates are super high, more Americans find themselves carrying credit card debt from month to month, a new survey suggests.

Half of credit cardholders surveyed in June as part of Bankrate's latest Credit Card Debt Survey said they carry balances over month to month. That is up from 44% in January – and the highest since since March 2020, when 60% of people carried debt from month to month, according to Bankrate's surveys.

One-third of U.S. adults (36%) have credit card debt that's higher than their emergency savings, according to Bankrate's findings. That's the same amount as a year ago and the highest since the personal finance site began asking the question in 2011.

This comes at a time when the average credit card interest rate in the U.S. is 24.92% – the highest since LendingTree began tracking rates monthly in 2019, the online lending marketplace reported Friday.

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The situation has left nearly six out of 10 (58%) without a plan to pay off their credit cards, found the Bankrate survey of 2,350 U.S. adults, conducted by YouGov in June.

"Since the beginning of 2021, credit card balances have been off to the races," Ted Rossman, Bankrate's senior credit card analyst, said in the survey report. "High inflation and high interest rates have eroded Americans' savings and more people are carrying more debt for longer periods of time."

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What is the average American's credit card debt?

The average American household owed $7,951 in credit card debt annually, according to 2022 data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The average credit card balance among U.S. consumers was $6,501 as of the third quarter in 2023, 10% higher than the previous year, according to credit agency Experian.

What can you do to pay off credit card bills?

Some advice from Bankrate on how to chip away at credit card debt:

• Cut back. Take from your discretionary budget to pay more than the monthly minimum on your credit card.
• Set aside. Use any extra funds, such as a tax refund, work bonus or pay from a side gig, to pay toward your credit card debt.  
• Change cards. Get a 0 percent balance transfer card, so you can move your debt to a new card with no interest for a limited time, often 12 to 21 months. "You can use that time to aggressively pay down your principal without worrying about racking up additional interest," Bankrate's report says.

Contributing: Sara Chernikoff

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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