CREDIT CARD DEBT HITS $800 BILLION

December 24, 2004

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(AP) During a season with shoppers racing about to wrap up holiday spending, half of Americans say they worry about their overall level of debt, an Associated Press poll found.

That includes many – about two in 10 of those surveyed – who say they stay worried about their debt level most or all of the time.

Those debts can come from home and car loans as well as credit cards – even more so with December buying sprees. Three-fourths in the poll said they have credit cards.

Most people who have credit cards say they work to keep control of them, but one in six with cards say they don’t trust their own spending with plastic. Young adults and those who make less than $25,000 a year were most likely to doubt their own ability to manage credit cards.

The total amount of revolving credit debt, such as that caused by credit cards, was just over $600 billion five years ago and is almost $800 billion now, according to the Federal Reserve.

In the survey, about 10 percent of those with credit cards said they have missed making their minimum payment during the past six months.

SOURCE: CBSNews.com