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The siren song of the credit card is music to our ears lately. When it comes time to pay the bills, we Americans are reaching for the plastic more than ever.
With more people using credit cards to pay for food and rent, Americans’ total credit card debt reached a record $930 billion at the end of 2022, According to a new report from TransUnion. That’s a whopping 18.5% increase from the year before.
(We’ve seen headlines in the past that put Americans’ total credit card debt at $1 trillion, but apparently TransUnion calculates it differently. TransUnion says this is a record. Anyway, credit card debt is way, way up.)
Not only that, but the average credit card balance rose to $5,805, TransUnion says.
This comes at a time when swiping your card has become more expensive than ever because credit card interest rates are rising crazy fast. The average APR on a credit card has climbed above 19% — the highest it’s ever been! It’s the most expensive kind of debt you can have.
What can you do to cut your credit card debt? We’ve got some good ideas for that.
But first…
Maybe Bigger Changes Are Needed
Hey, we’ve all been there with the credit card debt. There’s no shame. We’ve all gone through it.
But if you’re using a credit card to afford groceries and make rent, that’s obviously a problem. That’s not sustainable. It might be time to make some significant changes.
You could:
- Look for cheaper digs. We know that’s easier said than done.
- Shop at a cheaper grocery store. When we went looking for the cheapest groceries, we found that Aldi is even cheaper than Walmart. Also, here are our favorites tricks to save money on groceries.
- Do some meal planning to eat healthy and save money. Here’s Our guide on how to start meal planning so that you’ll actually stick to it.
- Get a side gig. Here’s The Penny Hoarder’s continually updated page on work-from-home jobs.
5 Ways to Eliminate Credit Card Debt
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