Inflation is definitely having an effect on the numbers. Everything that people are charging is going up. I have 3 cards and pay them off monthly. I primarily use 1, put everything on it and and bank the rewards. A more meaningful chart would only include balances older then 1 month. I have a Citibank card that I have had forever and rarely use. At 1 time I had a big credit limit but they keep dropping it.

We only have three, a Home Depot we pay it off before any interest hits, a Discount Tire we pay it before off before the interest hits. The other one is a Amazon card, we let it get up to about $1000 but will soon have it paid off. Our house is paid off and the truck will be this year. It's a good feeling.

If truck is only installment loan your FICO score will drop almost immediately after paying it off. Mine was 850 until I paid off truck. It dropped a month afterwards.

Ramsey isn't wrong.

We have a card we pay off every month but we'd be better off not using it. Haven't got that discipline yet.

I see it all the time with tenants. Carrying large amount of credit card debt is something that's usually a deal-breaker for me as a landlord. I will usually overlook medical debt if it's the only outstanding issue, but other than that we're really picky on who we let live in our homes. The amount of folks out there with medical debt, student loan debt, or just consumer debt on credit cards is astounding. I think the main reason it's worse now is because the dollar is so weak....this has been an issue for a long time and is nothing new.

I wouldn’t stay in debt just to keep a high credit score.

90% of my financial transactions are with a CC. I enjoy my 2% cash back rewards. I just treat it as a debit card in Quicken.

Glad I’m not part of that problem. I’ve paid off everything I owed on over the last 10’years. No mortgage, no vehicle payments, no boat payments.

Saying that….taxes and insurance on those things now are actually higher than the payments were 10-12 years ago.

My savings and investments are barely outpacing inflation. BARELY.

But in the end you pay more for your purchases, they vendors just pass they credit card fees they pay onto the consumer.

So in the end it a wash.

How are the vendors passing it along to the consumer? I purchased a new zero turn mower and the vendor asked if I could write them a check as they had to pay 3% to the credit card company. I asked him if he would reduce the sale price by 1.5% so we both could save some money. He said nope, it is the same price cash or card.
So I used the card to get my 1% cash back, his loss not mine.

It’s literally business 101. That is his cost of doing business spread across all the customers and the retail price reflects that. Stuff would be cheaper if everyone paid cash. Visa does billions in annual revenue…

Have never had a credit card, never will.

I've watched him. Sometimes he screams at them. He interviews some truly clueless people.

remember those days when my kids were young and I had no choice but to use Sears charge account and pay that 18% interest they charged.......