You pull the mail out of the box, and there they are: the post-Christmas credit card bills. As much as you’d like to, you can’t put them in the shredder or hide them under the stack of papers on the kitchen table that you won’t unbury until about the same time the Ohio snow melts this spring.
You’ve got to open them, unfortunately.
You’re not alone in your credit card debt, if that’s any consolation. According to a NerdWallet report from December 2018, the average U.S. household has nearly $7,000 in revolving debt, the category credit card debt falls into.
Those credit cards often carry high interest rates. In fact, that makes them tough to pay off, and about 9 percent of Americans who have credit card debt said they don’t anticipate they ever will have them paid off.
“Credit card debt is the stain on millions of Americans’ finances that doesn’t scrub off easily, if ever,” NerdWallet’s credit card expert said. “High interest rates combined with expenses that continue to outweigh income mean that some households are unable to fully rid themselves of debt and, in fact, continue to take on more.”
Credit card debt, indeed, can be a vicious cycle. You need your cash to pay your credit card minimum balances, and once you’re out of money until payday, you need your card to pay your everyday expenses.
If your debt burden is so high that you see bankruptcy as perhaps your only solution, it’s time to consult an attorney experienced in bankruptcy and debt resolution. The attorney can lay out your options for you.