Outstanding revolving debt, including ongoing lines of credit used by consumers, jumped to $935.6 billion as of December from $841 billion in 2010, according to data from the Federal Reserve and a report from ValuePenguin titled "
Revolving credit has increased each year but the average household credit card debt for consumers who carry balances each month has fluctuated since 2010. It reached a high of $10,704 as of November, according to the report. The low was $9,939 in 2013, a decline of .42% from 2012. That year, the average credit card debt for households with ongoing balances was $9,981, a 1.63% decline from $10,147 in 2011.
Total outstanding consumer debt in the U.S., including revolving credit and non-revolving credit for auto and student loans, is $3.5 trillion as of December 2015, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest consumer borrowing report released last week.
ValuePenguin found that 38.1% of all households carry some sort of credit card debt and those with the lowest net worth have an average of $10,308 in credit card debt. Average credit card debt in the U.S. is up over the last decade, the report states, but the average percentage of people holding credit card debt is down, indicating that the rise in average credit card debt is not because of a greater number of people spending but rather more people being more heavily indebted.
The report also notes that debt from credit card use represents less than half of the total unsecured debt held by consumers in the U.S. In 2011, the average total unsecured debt was $21,281 and credit cards accounted for just 36% of that figure, according to the report.
