The Average Household Credit Debt

The United States of America as a nation is in debt to the tune of $13.8 trillion as of December 2010, according to U.S. National Debt Clock. Divide that figure by the country's estimated population of 309,622,834 and the result is a debt obligation of $44,706.46 for every man, woman and child in America. Those figures are just what the nation owes. Consumer debt as of March 2010 reached approximately $2.45 trillion. The good news is that consumer debt appears to be coming down.

Revolving Debt

Revolving debt refers to a type of loan that changes as additional debt is incurred or additional payments are made, usually on a monthly basis. Most revolving debt is credit card debt, which makes up approximately 98 percent of revolving debt. Revolving debt in the U.S. dropped to a projected $800.5 billion as of October 2010, according to the Federal Reserve Statistical Release G.19. There were approximately 54 million U.S. households in which at least one member carried one or more credit cards as of March 2010, resulting in an average revolving debt of approximately $14,450 per household.

Nonrevolving Debt

Nonrevolving debt refers to consumer debt that is fixed. This type of debt includes mortgage loans, auto loans, personal bank loans and other types of fixed debt. Nonrevolving consumer debt increased to a projected $1.6 trillion as of October 2010, according to the Federal Reserve Statistical Release G.19. These figures represent an upward trend of approximately 1.75 percent annualized for 2010.

Statistics

Approximately 29 percent of Americans don't own any credit cards. Those who do carry an average of 3.5 credit cards each. As of January 2010, more consumers carried debit cards than credit cards. The average U.S. household that held credit card debt owed approximately $16,000 on those cards as of March 2010. More than half of credit card holders carried an unpaid balance on at least one card during the previous 12 months.

Trends

Americans are reducing their personal debt loads at a faster rate than at any time since the 1950s, according to "The Wall Street Journal." Much of the reduction in debt comes as a result of an increase in personal bankruptcies and defaults. "The Wall Street Journal" notes that personal debt, including both revolving and nonrevolving debt, fell by approximately 1.7 percent in 2009. Personal savings has increased to more than 4 percent of disposable income, but as of the beginning of 2010, the ratio between debt and disposable income still stood at more than 120 percent.