Credit card debt tops $1 trillion, trapping even six-figure earners – Michelle Singletary/WaPost
“A report from Bankrate found that 60 percent of those who carry a balance on their credit card — or 54 million Americans — have been in debt for at least a year. Overall, nearly half (47 percent) of credit cardholders have revolving debt, meaning they don’t pay off their balance in full…
“Making minimum payments can saddle you with debt for years…Let’s say you have a credit card balance of $5,733. (This is the national average according to TransUnion.) Your credit card interest rate is 20.53 percent (the national average, according to Bankrate). The minimum payment is 1 percent of the balance plus interest each month (with a minimum of $35). Minimum payments vary from issuer to issuer, but that’s a common scenario, Rossman said. Making minimum payments would keep you in debt for 208 months (about 17 years) and cost $8,366 in interest.”
Have mainstream banks become the new payday lenders by trapping consumers in usurious credit card debt? In the bigger picture, the credit card payment system overseen by the Fed and US government silently pumps billions of dollars in high fees from higher-income to lower-income consumers. It is a massive welfare program for banks. See: