TAMPA, Fla. — It’s a tight reality for millions of people across the country as a recent report sheds light on the state of rising credit card debt.
"I have roughly about $5,000 in credit card debt,” said Sean Roberts.
"About maybe $3,000, $4,000,” said Hope Burgos.
Many people can relate to the problem, pointing to inflation and rising costs as the top reasons credit card debt might be inching higher and higher.
"I have five kids and four grandchildren, and sometimes Christmastime is a little bit challenging, so sometimes we have charged because we've wanted to be able to give,” said Linda Uveges.
"It just slowly trickles up. You've got student loans. You've got a little bit of everything to pay. Everything's going up right now, so credit cards are no exception,” said Matt Moreno.
The picture was painted clearly in a recent report on household debt and credit from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
A 2023 Q4 report found that credit card balances increased by a staggering $50 billion. That’s up 4.6 percent from the previous quarter, with balances now hovering at $1.13 trillion.
The report also said serious credit card delinquencies went up across all age groups, particularly with younger borrowers exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
"As we identify where your expenditures are coming from, how much can we actually cut out from those ones and try to tackle some of that credit card debt,” said Adam Taylor, the CEO and advisor for Taylor Financial.
Taylor suggested people start building a habit and doing a little bit more every month.
"It can be daunting, but if you start from that snowball approach, if you start from here and then grow from there, it can help quite a bit,” said Taylor.
People in the Tampa Bay area also shared what they’re doing to help get a handle on their credit card situations.
"Watch what you spend, just double down on a few things, and just make sure that you're paying your debt because the interest rate alone kills you,” said Roberts.
"I have been trying to manage it myself, whether if I take out like maybe $30 a paycheck to pay back on it,” said Burgos.
"One thing I've done is canceled subscriptions left and right, where you don't need four Netflix subscriptions out there that are floating around,” said Moreno.
"Right now, we are on that reduction plan, and we've consolidated everything, and we are paying that down and will not charge anymore,” said Uveges.
