You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt - Consumerist Comments

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Rusted — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:30:46 EDT

Oops. I owe nada.

@dragonfire81: Some of us just don't shove.

Rusted

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

synergy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:39:10 EDT

@PeteRR: Congrats!

synergy

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

synergy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:38:33 EDT

I use my credit card all the time, but that's because I get cashback. Then I pay it off when I get paid. I wonder if this number includes all CC usage or if this is only how much people are heavy, that is, not paying off after the grace period.

synergy

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

dragonfire81 — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:52:48 EDT

You know the banks and credit card companies are as much to blame for this as consumers.

They just keep shoving deceptive "low interest" or "preapproved" cards to people and of course, they are jumped on and quickly maxed out (since it many cases they end up given to people who are tight on money to begin with).

Add in those scummy store credit cards that seem to be proliferating at an ungodly fast rate and you've got a credit problem.

With prices for food and gas rising by the day and the job market worsening, I expect the debt levels to keep going up for the foreseeable future.

dragonfire81

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

mduser — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:46:38 EDT

@mduser: Just over 5k in credit card debt that is.

mduser

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Steaming Pile — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:40:40 EDT

@ChuckECheese: Don't bet on it. This year's offers weren't as good as last year's. Next year's will suck. Better pay the thing down as best you can while you can.

Steaming Pile

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Steaming Pile — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:06:31 EDT

As soon as I go cash my tax refund check (I must have given the IRS the wrong routing number or something), my share of all that debt will be limited to my car and my house. Zero credit card debt - gotta love it.

Steaming Pile

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

mduser — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:56:49 EDT

Oh I've been cutting back on my spending for the last year. It helped that I kicked a deadbeat boyfriend to the curb.

I'm down to just over 5k, and I already have the budget worked out to pay it off in 1 year or less. The plan after that is to take the money that was going towards my credit card and split it between saving for a car and extra payments on my student loan.

mduser

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

onesix18 — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:12:14 EDT

Consumer spending will slow, but not as fast as it needs to, because we have indeed become a nation dependent on material goods for happiness.

onesix18

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Erwos — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:37:56 EDT

@SOhp101: The federal reserve, though, can regulate the commercial investment banks now that they're in bed with them - and they apparently are going to. Given that their management of regular banks has been surprisingly effective (I mean, none of them have failed... yet), that's actually not a bad thing.

But the only way to regulate consumers is to essentially take choices from them. Consumers generally don't appreciate that.

FWIW, I was against Bear Stearns, too.

@charlie.evans: It's probably time for people to understand that private colleges are generally so-so deals compared to state schools, especially if you can't really afford them. A degree from Harvard is nice, but the cost is pretty damned high for the benefit.

Erwos

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

FLConsumer — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:23:14 EDT

Damn, I need to start racking up more debt. Paying it off every month isn't helping the cause.

FLConsumer

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

charlie.evans — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:13:40 EDT

Yeah. $8467 in consumer debt would be nice. But, being a college student at a private university is raping my wallet (pardon the use of bad language). I have about $67000 in student loans and I still have another year with my Bachelor's. Gross stuff.

charlie.evans

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

SOhp101 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:39:42 EDT

@Erwos: Except we're doing it with Bear Sterns.

I don't think anyone is disputing that moral hazard isn't real though. The federal reserve is full of bs.

SOhp101

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Erwos — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:19:35 EDT

@cerbie: This is why it's important to not bail people out in the current round of foreclosures. Do that, and people will just keep on demanding it - and the people who have the money (aka, responsible people) will foot the bill.

Moral hazard isn't a theoretical thing. It's VERY real.

Erwos

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

cerbie — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:24:41 EDT

A cuter pic than those cat ones—what was the article about?

OK, anyway, with fuel prices still on the climb (see diesel), it's just getting thinner and thinner. Will it go out with a whimper or a bang?

As of now, it's not like everyone can just start over and not have interest-collecting debt over their heads.

We've been in the hole for years, and now it is getting to be too late to make it look nice.

cerbie

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

BingoLong — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:24:42 EDT

But if I live within my means then the economy suffers! (And we don't want a recession, now, do we?)

BingoLong

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

pal003 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:24:27 EDT

That will be $2,540,000,000,000 - $600 when I get my economic stimulus check and pay off the bad, bad BofA card. Thanks fellow taxpayers!

pal003

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

howie_in_az — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:51:07 EDT

@banmojo: Maybe those are just late penalties and associated fees?

howie_in_az

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

banmojo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:23:39 EDT

Well, I guess it's a step in a better direction, but still accumulating MORE debt, so not fixing the situation yet either.

banmojo

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Bryan Price — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:21:18 EDT

Hmmm. I zero out that credit card bill every month. Sometimes I even put even more into it because I know I've got a higher bill than I like coming the next month.

That leaves >$8k for the two year old car, and >$50K left on the mortgage on the house.

I don't peak at my wife's AmEx bill. With multiple out of the country round-trip tickets on that plastic, I don't want to give myself a heart attack. But she gets all those $s paid back to her. I'm just wondering how that five figure check that comes in (electronically) and then goes out the same day (electronically) goes with the feds, being out of the country and all.

Bryan Price

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

PeteRR — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:16:01 EDT

@billbillbillbill:
Luckily being single, I just pulled in my horns and didn't spend money unless absolutely necessary. I also started volunteering at work for as much overtime as they would give me. I'm down to about $5k and I'm in the process of selling one of my three vehicles. That'll more than cover the outstanding balance.

PeteRR

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:32:14 EDT

@ClayS: I only have about $150 in credit card debt. I'm way behind. Time to go on a charging spree!

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

humphrmi — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:23:16 EDT

@ClayS: Wow, eight grand per person. And it's actually a lot higher because that 300 million people you divided by includes a lot of children (not that they aren't in debt too, but probably that not many).

It's astounding. We are addicted. We are consumers! :)

humphrmi

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

billbillbillbill — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:10:15 EDT

Congrats PeteRR, I can't imagine that much debt or having to dig out of that. My wife and I are digging out of about $8k of credit card debt and are counting the days until September when we are debt free other than the house!

billbillbillbill

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ConsumptionJunkie — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:07:06 EDT

Has anyone noticed that banks have quietly raised their fees?

Aventium charges a $95 "program fee" once you are accepted and a $25 fee every time your credit line is increased.

Someone with a $250 credit line will have less than ten dollars for available credit after all the first year fees are deducted.

ConsumptionJunkie

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ClayS — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:05:17 EDT

@ClayS:
No, its $8467.

Thats better.

ClayS

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ClayS — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:04:09 EDT

Someone check my math please...

$2.54 trillion divided by about 300 million people in the US is almost $850,000 per person. Can that be right? Consumer debt?

ClayS

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ConsumptionJunkie — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:01:05 EDT

Has anyone noticed that banks have quietly raised their fees?

Aventium, for example, charges a $95 "program" fee once you are accepted, and $25 every time your credit limit is increased.

The minimum credit line is $250, so after the yearly fee, the monthly fee, and the program fee, your available credit can be less than ten dollars a year.

ConsumptionJunkie

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ChuckECheese — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:48:26 EDT

Yeah, but it's at an introductory interest rate for the first 12 months, and then I'll transfer the balance.

ChuckECheese

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

uberbucket — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:43:11 EDT

$2,540,000,000,000 doesn't even look real.

Did we win?

uberbucket

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

PeteRR — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:35:23 EDT

I've been carrying credit card debt since the summer of '01 when I bought a race car. It peaked at about $42k, which at the time was about what I making per year. By the end of this month I'll finally be debt free.

PeteRR

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

ptkdude — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:34:28 EDT

I owe $2.54 trillion? I can send you $100 a month, but that's the most I can do.

ptkdude

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

Bladefist — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:44:35 EDT

this one is better though.

Bladefist

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

APFPilot — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:43:38 EDT

correction Meg.

APFPilot

You Have $2.54 Trillion In Consumer Debt

APFPilot — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:43:00 EDT

Even Ben does double posts.

APFPilot