Alex Baker, The Century Foundation, 12/8/2005
A major survey released by the think tank Demos provides some important new insights on how average American families are using credit cards. “Revolving consumer credit,” the class of debt which includes credit cards, is in some ways poorly understood. While we have a good idea of the total amount of debt families are carrying, and that it has grown considerably in recent years, we still don’t know much about what that debt is being used for. In that light, consider some of Demos’s findings:
* "Seven out of 10 low- and middle-income households reported using their credit cards as a safety net—relying on credit cards to pay for car repairs, basic living expenses, medical expenses, or house repairs. . .
* Households that reported losing a job sometime in the last three years and being unemployed for at least two months, as well as households who had been without health insurance in the last three years, were almost twice as likely to use credit cards to pay for basic living expenses. . .
* Households dealing with a layoff or major medical expenses were more likely to have a higher relative debt-stress level
. These economically-vulnerable households were more likely to have higher relative credit card debt because they used their credit cards to cover expenses associated with an illness or necessary medical treatment, as well as basic living expenses."
more...
http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=1157
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
