KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Personal credit card debts are on the rise at an exponentially higher pace than years past.
Total credit card debt increased 2.9% since this same time last year. In Quarter 3 of 2020, the debt sat at $924.9 billion, according to reports by WalletHub. In Quarter 3 of 2021, it had risen to $951.6 billion.
However, credit cards are only a small portion of household debts.
The Federal Reserve released a Quarterly report that provides some insight into the rising total.
The total household debt is now estimated at $15 trillion. For perspective, that's about half of the U.S. National debt, which is about to hit $30 trillion.
That household debt includes housing and non-housing debts. In most cases, credit card debt would be considered non-housing debts (featured in red).
In Tennessee, the average consumer in 2020 had $5,688 in credit card debt; which was lower than the national average of $8,200.
However, financial institutions like WalletHub and lending Tree are expecting a big uptick in the final quarter of 2021. This can be greatly attributed to holiday spending, travel and inflation steadily rising.
WalletHub predicts $70 billion will be added to the national total in credit credit debt.
Lending Tree, another financial institution had similar findings in their annual holiday debt survey.
The report indicated that as many as 36% of consumers went into debt this season. This added an average of about $1,200 of credit card debt per-person, according to Lending Tree.