While credit card debt increased slightly in February to $6,105, the number is still down 15% year-over-year, according to CreditKarma.com's U.S. Credit Score Climate Report released Wednesday.
The average consumer with an account in February also had:
• $170,312 in home mortgage debt
• $46,979 in home equity debt
• $15,378 in auto loans
• $28,404 in student loan debt
The average credit score since last month decreased two points to 659 nationally.
New Jersey (681), Massachusetts (679) and California (677) posted the highest credit scores while Mississippi (624), Arkansas (634) and Louisiana (635) posted the lowest.
Those same states also have the most and least amount of credit card debt with New Jersey ($7,145), Massachusetts ($6,441) and California ($6,065) posting the most debt and Mississippi ($4,693), Arkansas ($5,477) and Louisiana ($5,123) the least.
"You have to use credit to improve your credit score. That is why states with higher credit scores tend to have a higher cost of living. Consumers in those states need credit for things like mortgages and other living expenses," says Ken Lin, CEO at CreditKarma.com. "In the states like Mississippi with a low median mortgage value, credit becomes less important. Consumers need less money for a home so credit and debt usage tends to be lower."
Other key findings include:
• Out of all the U.S. regions, the Northeast carries the most student loan debt ($30,397) followed by the Midwest ($28,222), the South ($28,167) and the West ($27,350).
• Only three states paid down their auto loan debt since last month including Rhode Island by two percent to $13,031, Hawaii by one percent to $15,693 and Maine by .1 percent to $13,421. South Dakota and New Mexico increased their auto loan debt the most at seven percent to $15,605 and $18,111 respectively.
CreditKarma.com's monthly report compares the current credit scores of its user base with scores pulled at least 30 days before and no more than 90 days before the stated month. The latest report includes a comparison of more than 442,102 CreditKarma.com user scores.
