Consumers’ credit card debt eases
News from Omaha World-Herald:
Amber Malone, music education student, saxophone player and percussionist, paid off her credit card debt after four years of working extra while attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
KENT SIEVERS THE WORLD-HERALD
Published Thursday January 26, 2012
Credit card debt falls alongside credit scores
News from Fox Business:
A robust holiday shopping season apparently led some Americans to delay extra debt payments during December, but that didn’t prevent the nation from ending on a high note. Despite a slowdown in debt payments at the end of 2011, all 50 states ended the year with less credit card debt than when the year began.
According to a recent report issued by CreditKarma.com, credit card debt declined 11 percent nationwide last year. However, it wasn’t all good news. Credit scores saw a decline during that time as well.
Overall, the news on debt was positive for 2011. According to the report, debt loads in four out of five categories remained steady or declined:
Rein in Credit Card Debt
News from LoanSafe:
(Source: The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.) - There’s nothing inherently wrong with debt. It’s what allows many people to buy homes, own automobiles and send their children to college. But debt is like dessert: If moderation is not exercised, all kinds of problems arise.
Washington’s state government has accumulated a per capita debt of about $ 2,626, which ranks seventh among states. That’s a cause for concern, and there’s no moderation seen in the fact that the state’s debt service payments increased 61 percent in one decade (1999-2009). That trend is even more troubling when compared to the 39 percent increase that same decade in spending for education, supposedly the state’s paramount duty.
Those numbers were reported in an op-ed written by state Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and published in Saturday’s Yakima Herald-Republic. We agree with her recommendation that long-term solutions must be enacted by the Legislature to make the state’s debt capacity sustainable.
To their credit, legislators last year approved reducing the state’s working debt limit — gradually, through 2020 — from 8.75 percent to 7.5 percent of general state revenues. That’s a good tactic, but the overall strategy must include other steps. Warnick and others want to calculate state tax collections over a six-year period instead of the…………… continues on LoanSafe
Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics – CreditCards.com
News from Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics – CreditCards.com:
This page contains credit card statistics — including statistics on credit card debt, credit card delinquencies, credit scores, credit card interest rates, bankruptcies, average credit card debt and more — compiled by the CreditCards.com staff. Statistics on this page will be updated regularly as we receive new or updated credit card data. Some data may appear multiple times on the page because the inform…………… continues on Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics – CreditCards.com
Posted in Credit Cards
Tagged Card, Credit, CreditCards.com, Debt, Facts, industry, statistics
8 steps to reducing credit card debt
News from CreditCards.com:
| Steps mentioned in this Credit Card Help story |
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| More inside Credit Card Help |
In times of economic uncertainty, it’s even more important to put yourself in a solid financial position. One good way to do that is to dig out of credit card debt.
Liz Weston, author of “Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want out of Life,” says tighter lending standards make it even more important for people to bring down their credit card balances. “Many credit avenues are being…………… continues on CreditCards.com
Credit card debt: Are consumers returning to bad habits?
News from The Christian Science Monitor:
Credit card debt increased an estimated $ 64 billion in 2011, far more than in the previous two years. Holiday shopping bills will swell credit card debt even more in early 2012.
Americans are edging back toward their bad old pre-recession habits, when they charged whatever they wanted on their credit cards and didn’t worry about the build up of debt. After starting 2011 by paying down over $ 32 billion in credit card debt, consumers are on track to end the year with a $ 64 billion increase in their net credit card debt, according to Card Hub’s latest survey of credit card debt.
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That’s a far bigger increase than in either 2009 or 2010. Unfortunately, t…………… continues on The Christian Science Monitor
Should you pay credit card debt with a P2P loan?
News from Fox Business:
Although interest rates are at historically low levels, even the best credit card rates remain in the double digits. So if you’re grappling with credit card bills, it can sometimes seem insurmountable to dig out of debt.
To slash borrowing costs and more quickly eliminate debt, consumers are increasingly using alternative repayment strategies, including peer-to-peer lending.
Peer-to-peer or P2P lending – also called social lending and person-to-person lending – involves one individual, or “peer,” loaning money to another person, without a bank acting as the middleman.
Peer-to-peer lending is a $ 1 billion industry, experts say, with loan volume in 2012 expected to triple as banks continue to tighten their credit policies and make it tougher for Americans to obtain traditional loans.
But should you use a peer-to-peer loan to pay off your
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Pay off $ 30K in Credit Card Debt Fast
News from Fox Business:
Dear Debt Adviser,
What is the best way to get rid of credit card debt? Due to a job income decrease, I have added to my credit card debt over the last two years. I rarely use the cards anymore. I pay the recommended amount to pay off in X amount of years. So I am paying extra, but it seems like it is taking forever, and I just want to pay them off the quickest way. I have six cards with interest rates of zero percent to 19%, and the total balances combined are close to $ 30,000. I have never had this much debt on credit cards, and it is stressing me out. Please offer some advice.
Another concern I have is when I started to use the cards, my credit limits had been decreased. How does that affect your score compared to getting a personal loan? My credit score is still good to excellent. I do not want to move balances around and pay the transfer fees, as that hasn’t seemed to work for me in the past. Also, a home equity loan is not an option due to…………… continues on Fox Business
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Consumers’ credit card debt rises again on higher spending
News from Debtmerica Relief:
Friday, 16 September 2011 12:00
Recent data shows that consumers are once again spending more money on their credit cards, leading to higher debt levels, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the recession ended.
The latest 2011 Credit Card Debt Study from the consumer comparison site CardHub.com revealed that consumers added $ 18.4 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter, up 66 percent from the same period in the previous year, and 368 percent more than 2009′s second quarter, according to a report from Daily Finance. Americans are expected to end the year with $ 54 billion more owed on their credit cards than they starte…………… continues on Debtmerica Relief
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