This is when I realize that credit cards and the lending industry are both pretty trashy. I've included statistics below to support this piont.
- The credit card industry mailed over 6 billion credit card offers in 2005, an average of 6 offers per household per month
- Late fee income alone totaled over $11 billion in 2005
- 78% of American households were deemed creditworthy by the credit card industry in 2004
- With its acquisition of MBNA, Bank of America became the nation’s largest credit card issuer in 2006, followed by Chase and Citi.
- There were 574 million Visa and MasterCard accounts in the U.S in 2004
- Average household credit card debt has increased 167% between 1990 and 2004
- The average interest rate paid on credit cards was approximately 14.54% in 2005
- The rate of personal savings in the United States dipped below 0% for the first time since the great depression in 2005, hitting negative .5%
- Approximately 23 million households made only minimum payments in 2005
- 2.39 million U.S. households filed for bankruptcy in 2005, a 12.8% increase over 2004
- The average credit card balance in 2005 would require over 13 years to pay off if only making minimum payments of 4% at an average interest rate of 14%
- As of 2004, the number one cause of divorce is financial stress
- In 2004, 83% of undergraduate college students had at least one credit card in their name with an average outstanding balance of over $2,300
- 32% of students had 4 or more credit cards in 2004
- In 2005, 65% of teens failed a financial literacy test according to the JumpStart Coalition
1 comment:
oh yes. look, here's more good advice!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt0c6_snldontbuystuff_fun
SNL always knows..
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