U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B

Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by lotsofpulp on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:08PM (#34645289)

> These cards are accepted by society because they benefit those who know how to use them, but it's hard to look past the fact that so many people, if not most, are financially illiterate (because of failings of education due to lack of funding) and so many people screw themselves financially for decades if not their whole lives because of them.

I went through the U.S. education system in 8 different states in schools in poorer areas, and even then, the education was sufficient to understand the concept of not spending money you do not have.

Set the thing to auto pay the balance every month, and do not spend more than you earn. I expect that much from 95% of the population that has had the opportunity to learn how to read and write.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by syzarian on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:14PM (#34645402)

Almost everyone in the U.S. spends money they don’t have. We borrow to buy a car, a house, to go to college. When one does not live on the precipice of missing rent and whatnot it is easy to say, “ Don’t spend money you don’t have.” Such advice is as useless as it is easy to say.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by lotsofpulp on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:18PM (#34645465)

Edit to “spending money they do not have for unnecessary purchases at huge interest rates”.

Obviously, certain circumstances can cause someone to need to use credit card debt to shelter/feed themselves and their family. I would be willing to bet the vast majority of credit card interest is not caused by essential needs.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by Marsymars on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:46PM (#34645956)

The thing is, if you go into debt, you eventually reach a balance of income and expenses. (Or you declare bankruptcy.) You can’t keep going into deeper debt indefinitely. If you’d taken those same actions to equalize income and expenses before going into debt, you’d be better off.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by sleton38234234 on Friday February 03, 2023 @02:06PM (#34646308)

It's not useless at all. There are countries where the average workers earn 5 times less (even PPP adjusted) than our minimum wage and they don't rack up vast amounts of credit card debt, car loans, etc.

We first need to start changing our values to be more financially conservative. Once that happens and voters start making these values apparent to politicians, they can take actions that will help reduce costs for citizens.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by sangnoir on Friday February 03, 2023 @03:09PM (#34647049)

> We first need to start changing our values to be more financially conservative.

Think about the economy! If political leaders were wanted the elderly to sacrifice thier lives to COVID "for the economy", then the overspenders have no chance of being save from bankruptcy. The purpose of a system is what it does, and the American one moves money upwards.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by quickthrowman on Friday February 03, 2023 @04:58PM (#34648299)

There’s a huge difference between borrowing money at 5% (and this loan is collateralized) to pay for a car you commute to work in, and putting a $10,000 trip on a credit card at 24% interest and then making minimum payments. The former is a good idea, the latter is a terrible idea.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by vlunkr on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:30PM (#34645698)

I would also argue that it's not due to a lack of funding, just misplaced priorities. Even one course on financial literacy would go a long ways.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by whitemary on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:53PM (#34646060)

At what point is one expected to forego their basic needs (including dignity) to avoid debt?

Logically, this question must be answered with sincerity before blaming financial illiteracy.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by dahfizz on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:56PM (#34646125)

I doubt it would make much of a difference. The kids with the wherewithal to take and pay attention to a finance course would be able to figure out "high interest debt = bad" on their own. The other kids wouldn't pay attention anyway.

Really, an hour on Google will give you all the information you could need to manage credit cards. It's not complex.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by Pfhortune on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:25PM (#34645599)

> the education was sufficient to understand the concept of not spending money you do not have

My public schooling in a podunk county TN had no component for financial management.

Even so, you assume that such education exists in a vacuum. It does not. It runs counter to a deluge of culture and advertising that tries to induce people to go into debt the moment they are able to pass a credit check.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by alar44 on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:29PM (#34645680)

Yeah it did, it's called basic math.

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Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by amalcon on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:51PM (#34646046)

My high school in a town-that-refused-to-admit-it-was-a-small-city had no course called "basic math". Compound interest was taught in exactly two classes: calculus and economics.

Economics was a de facto personal finance class, which was nice. It refused to admit that because "economics" looks better on a transcript than "personal finance". This meant it was a rarely taken elective for folks who wanted to look good to colleges.

Calculus was also an elective for folks who wanted to go to college, which was notoriously more difficult but more popular in spite of this. People not going to college weren't taking either one.

I believe grandparent that compound interest wasn't taught anywhere in a small public school. A lot of those schools don't even offer calculus.

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