In a startling report, great numbers of non-wealthy senior citizens are amassing serious credit card debt at an alarming rate—outpacing many other demographics.
Based on a 2008 study, people age 65 and up had an average of $10,235 in credit card debt for that year. The report noted that this was a 26% increase since a previous survey was conducted of low and middle-income borrowers back in 2005. The average debt for borrowers in the survey increased just 3%, to $9,827, during the same time period.
Perhaps, one of the reasons senior citizen choose to use credit cards is the astronomical costs of health care. In fact, more than half of the families with debt who were surveyed cited medical expenses as a big factor that led to credit card related-debt. The average household said that about $2,194 of credit card debt accumulated because of medical expenses. Out-of-pocket medical costs were blamed for $4,000 of the credit card debt currently held. One big example was prescription drugs.
One of the more interesting findings of this survey was that, in reality, credit card debt is not always caused by careless spending. Of those households surveyed, three out of four said they used cards to pay for car and home repairs, college tuition, loans to others, business operations, and more. More than a third used credit cards to provide basic necessities. Of course, those in the latter category had higher average balances than the former.
This survey and others sought to get a better handle on the credit card debt situation among those that fell into this demographic. As with most surveys, there is a degree of error that must be calculated, and, of course, some surveys do not take into account every mitigating factor that contributed to individual credit card balances.
Tags: credit card debt, senior citizen credit card debt
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