Is Credit Card Debt Putting Your Future in Hock?

Over the past 34 years, U.S. household debt has skyrocketed from $680 billion in 1974 to an astronomical $14 trillion in 2008, according to the November 1, 2010 issue of Time magazine. Since the early 1980s, U.S. consumer consumption has outpaced income at an ever-increasing rate. While wages have remained relatively stagnant, consumer spending has been climbing, fueled primarily by easily accessible credit. Before the recession, credit card offers flooded U.S. mailboxes, enticing consumers to spend with initial 0% interest rates and high credit allowances.
As they maxed out one credit card after another, many consumers, instead of tightening their belts, kept pushing off the day of reckoning by acquiring new credit cards and shuffling balances from one card to another to take advantage of low introductory interest rates. The housing crash and Wall Street fiasco brought the whole house of cards tumbling down, pushing many debt-burdened consumers into bankruptcy as jobs dried up and income flatlined (if you were lucky) or took a nose-dive (if you were not).
According to an article in the November 1, 2o10 issue of Time magazine, the average American family now owns 13 credit cards and carries $4,951 in credit card debt. While that’s substantial, per capita credit card debt today is actually at its lowest point in eight years, roughly half the amount of debt most American families carried a decade ago.
Record numbers of Americans unable to keep up with credit card and loan payments are flocking to debt-help sites hoping for debt relief. The crushing need for debt relief has created opportunities for fraud and scammers posing as legitimate debt relief agencies who proceed to bilk already struggling consumers out of the few assets they still have. Consumers are advised to carefully check the credentials of any debt-relief company they are considering doing business with. Visit our website to get the facts on debt relief and read reviews of top U.S. debt-relief companies