How much credit card debt do you have?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Not counting credit cards that you pay-off every month, how much credit card debt do you have currently that you are carrying over? The poll responses will be reflected as a % of your monthly gross income.

As an example if you make $75,000 a year before taxes, and you have $10,000 of credit card debt your response would be 160% [$10,000 / ($75,000 / 12)]

What do you think is a healthy level of credit card debt. or over what % of your monthly income do you think is too much?

I have zero, but when I read my credit score analysis, I get dinged for unused credit. I don’t really care, but I find it interesting.

2

Zero, though we run up about $3-$5K per month. And it’s going to stay that way. Credit card debt seems to be a necessary evil, but it’s the worst sort of debt to have, of course. I think it’s unhealthy to have more carry over than can be paid within a couple of months.

3

My credit card debt is about 9% of my income.
I think any credit card debt over 5% of income is too much, and my goal next year is to eliminate my 9%-of-income debt entirely.

4

Zero. Every month. My FICO credit score is 825.

My only debt is my mortgage and I’m way ahead of paying it off. My plan is on track to pay off a 30-year mortgage in 13 years (almost there).

5

Credit card debt is expensive. The interest rates are typically exhorbitant. OTOH, it’s an extremely convenient way to borrow money immediately, no questions asked. With that in mind, it can be a useful tool to get through very short-term financial crises (e.g. in college I crashed a rented snowmobile and didn’t get my $500 deposit back; I took a couple of months to pay down my account), but carrying any credit card debt on a perpetual basis is a symptom of poor financial health.

6

Sorry, I meant, my credit card debt is about 9% of my *annual *income.
It’s nearly 108% of my *monthly *income.
I think any credit card debt over 50% of monthly income is too much

7

I don’t even have a credit card. I do have a Visa-branded debit card which, as far as I know, does all the same things a credit card would do (although I’m to understand that some rental car companies don’t like to take debit cards).

8

0%. Since I pay no annual fee, every month the credit company gives me a short-term, interest-free loan.

Regards,
Shodan

9

My situation is pretty similar to Chefguy’s. We use one credit card for almost all of our purchases and pay it off when due.

10

Debit cards work just fine until they’re compromised. A compromised debit card means your bank account can be cleaned out in one swoop; not so with a credit card.

11

What’s a “mortgage”? Is that like those “car payment” things?

(Zero debt for well over a decade, with cards used to stretch major purchases over 30-60 days or so from time to time.)

12

I’ll have to check with my bank, but I’m pretty sure I’m protected against this. Regardless, worst-case-scenario is I’m out a few hundred bucks. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had more than $2k in the bank, lol.

13

I charge about $2-3K every month and pay off my cards several times a month; I rarely use cash unless I absolutely have to and if someone needs a check I must first remember where the damn checkbook is at and tell myself not to deal with them again in the future. I look at my balances daily and have even started to use my phone to make payments because now even cards are getting to be too much to carry around. I use my cards for cash back and hotel/flyer rewards so that they work for me, not the other way around.

14

I have some on cards where I took advantage of a 0% interest rate for a fixed term. I do this frequently, but I always pay them off prior to the term.

15

I spend a $1000 or so monthly that I pay off when due every month, sans $50 or so. I make 6 figures.

16

I think right now, I have roughly 30-40% of my monthly income on my card, because we bought a dryer with it because Home Depot wouldn’t take my debit card for some reason.

Otherwise, I don’t carry a balance any longer than I have to.

17

I couldn’t answer because my monthly income varies widely, and–as a result–so does my credit card debt. I have a line of credit I use first, but in dry times (for example, most of 2014), I’m living off credit and in good times, I have no debt other than my mortgage. I’m trying to get ahead of the game enough that even during the dry patches I have enough savings to get me by. I have recently paid off about $50,000 in credit card debt and that’s a nice feeling.

18

Even when my wife and I were just scraping by, the only time we carried over any credit card debt would be for a month or two after Christmas, and after that we’d once again be paying them off every month.

19

No credit card debt. I only use my cards for online purchases or traveling.

20

Zero credit card debt. Almost all purchases are made by credit card in order to keep a record of purchases but they are all immediately paid off.

Borrow money to make money or to make purchases that appreciate. Cars don’t appreciate (except limited editions, rare or classic cars) so no car loans either. Pay cash or buy a cheaper car. Homes/condos (usually) appreciate and the high cost of either requires taking out a mortgage.