# Why Do People Have Credit Card Debt?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-have-credit-card-debt/110314>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 22, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-have-credit-card-debt/110314 "2002-05-22T15:31:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![white-tigeress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@white-tigeress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/white-tigeress)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-have-credit-card-debt/110314/41 "2002-05-23T15:43:51Z")

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I currently have debt on my card because I have been out of work for two months now and need to pay the bills until i get that next job. It sux.

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**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-have-credit-card-debt/110314/42 "2002-05-24T13:22:38Z")

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People maintain a massive credit card debt for my benefit.  
See, if everyone else dealt with a credit card the way I do-- as a 30 day deferred payment system-- then my credit card company would probably do something dumb, like demanding I pay an annual fee in order to spend my own money.

I have _always_ paid my balance in full, no matter how much it is. And I’m only 1 and a half payments away from getting rid of my student loan. Woohoo!

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**Author:** ![Alexxandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alexxandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alexxandra)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-have-credit-card-debt/110314/43 "2002-05-24T16:06:35Z")

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I got into trouble with the credit cards at one point, though they are cleared off now. (ok…almost cleared off. I owe $127 on one, and the other I overpaid, so they owe me 40 bucks.)

I was a hairdresser, and my husband a full-time student. Then I broke my wrist quite badly and had a cast on for almost 3 months–hence, no hairdressing. Unemployment covered the rent, but that’s about it. I don’t feel bad about charging up the cards, because we had to eat and keep the electricity on.

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