Comments on: What’s with older Americans and credit card debt?

By: 77SunsetStrip

77SunsetStrip — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:32:44 +0000

Also agree with beer#s. The press release didn’t specify what was meant by “carry credit card debt.” We know that historically the percentage of convenience users who do not roll balances and pay interest runs 30-40%. I think it is likely that older cardholders are more likely to have higher income and assets than younger borrowers, and more likely to be convenience users.

By: hsvkitty

hsvkitty — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:48:33 +0000

oh Carpingdemon, that was perfect…

By: hsvkitty

hsvkitty — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:45:49 +0000

Agree with Beer that this number should be lower.

But being 55 year olds were in there… this age group is the baby boomer crowd who, having watched their mom’s save the wax paper lining of cereal boxes, were never quite as good as saving.

And this age group where kid’s leave the nest, the motorcycle or sports car or new toy becomes a necessity. The bucket list comes out. Renovations are suddenly in order and then they call home to say they can’t find a job, so could you

My tongue is NOT firmly planted in cheek when I say… the kids at college are using your credit cards.

i really want to know how much debt they are carrying and for how long. I know some young people who have 25k debt and barely make interest. I think that might have been more important then repeating same iffy stats in paragraph one and three.

Here is a more interesting question, which of the 20% owe CC debt of $20,000 or more?

By: carpingdemon

carpingdemon — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:59:39 +0000

It took me until 55 to figure out that I was going to die. Credit looked different then.

By: Olema

Olema — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:53:36 +0000

Credit card interest was deductible when older Americans were younger, until the 1986 tax reform. I bet it’s a habit they got during the days of deductibility, and never unlearned it.

By: FelixSalmon

FelixSalmon — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:39:16 +0000

Beer_numbers, good point. I’m checking now.

By: Beer_numbers

Beer_numbers — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:25:41 +0000

As someone who only uses credit cards for transactional purposes, I always have at least some credit card debt outstanding simply due to the timing of charges relative to the last statement date.

The numbers seem too high to be “percentage of adults who carry credit card balances from month to month and pay interest on those balances”. If it’s just the non-interest bearing current charges, then I think it’s a meaningless stat.

By: awgupta

awgupta — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:37:05 +0000

they’re on fixed incomes, and have significant variable costs from illnesses.