Despite the dangers of high-interest debt[1], more consumers are testing the limits of plastic.
To that point, more than 1 in 3 Americans — or 91 million people— said they're afraid they'll max out their credit card when making a large purchase, according to a new WalletHub credit cards survey[2]. (Most of those polled considered a large purchase as anything over $100.)
"A healthy amount of fear is justified," said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of WalletHub. "Issues stemming from large purchases more often concern people making too many of them, for the wrong reasons."
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More than one-third, or 37%, also said they have already maxed out their credit card and 14% said they have maxed it out more than once. WalletHub polled more than 700 people in January.
Still, most Americans continue to take on ever-increasing amounts of debt. According to data from the Federal Reserve[6], the U.S. surpassed $1 trillion in credit card debt[7] — the highest level since the Great Recession.
U.S. households with revolving credit card debt owe nearly $7,000, on average, costing them roughly $1,100 a year in interest payments, according to NerdWallet's 2019 household debt study[8].
At the same time, about 35% of cardholders are starting 2020 with more credit card debt than they had in the beginning of 2019, according to a separate CompareCards survey[9].
And fewer cardholders said they paid their monthly balance in full...