AMERICA'S AVERAGE CREDIT CARD DEBT REMAINS HIGH

Student loans, mortgages, late fees and interest rates all can amass to large debt, but where does all this debt consolidate? For many people in Ohio and throughout the U.S., payments toward debts are made using credit cards. While credit cards are useful tools that allow people to purchase things that they can pay off later, the numbers eventually add up if regular payments are not made, and the reality can be frightening for many people.

A recent study pinpointed the credit card debt for the average U.S. household at just more than $7,000. This may not sound bad, until you realize that this number includes people who don’t actually rely on their credit cards as a necessity but rather for additional expenses, and those households rarely using their cards may skew the data.

Lower income households often face so much debt that charging necessities on credit cards is the only way to make ends meet. For those indebted households, the average amount of debt more than doubles to a whopping $15,252. Even more sobering is that this number has stayed consistent for more than three years, meaning that this debt is going unmanaged, continuing to weigh heavily upon people’s pocketbooks.

With an average number that high, it’s safe to assume some Ohio residents are trying to manage burdensome credit card debt to degrees that impact their quality of life. If you have student loans to pay off or a mortgage to manage, thousands of dollars in credit card debt may weigh heavily on your shoulders, and you may have all but given up hope. But bankruptcy can provide debt relief.

A bankruptcy filing can help you get out from under mountains of debt and provide a fresh financial start. By discharging some debts completely, or coming up with a plan to pay the debt off at a reasonable rate, you could stop worrying about credit card debt and start living your life again.

Source: Business Insider, “Here’s America’s Steep Average Credit Card Balance,” Mary Hiers, April 9, 2014