San Antonio came in last place, where residents were projected to take the longest to pay off credit card debt – in fact, of the top 10 cities with the highest debt burden, seven were located in the South. Miller points to lower overall income in those areas, combined with a tendency towards higher credit card debt.
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If they dedicate 15 percent of their income to credit card payments, residents of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties would take an average of 14 months before getting out of debt, reported CreditCards.com, a subsidiary of Bankrate.com, a consumer website based in North Palm Beach. For example, Washington, D.C. has the nation’s highest average credit card debt at $5,046, but since it also has the highest median income in the nation, its debt burden is lower. But their average credit card balance was only about $60 more than the average South Florida credit card balance of $4,325, the study found.
“Job No. 1 for anybody with a credit card is to pay that balance off at the end of every month, but if you can’t do that you’ve got to make sure you’re paying the minimum”, said Schulz. Consumers there had an average card balance of $4,393, which they could pay off in nine months. But because of the lower median pay – of $27,491 – consumers there may struggle more to pay off their debt. With that kind of income, Boston’s credit card debt load is far less of a burden than it may otherwise be.
“It really is all about earnings”, Schulz said. “It’s certainly worth a call”, says Schulz. Service members are more likely to carry balances on their credit cards and have higher monthly debt expenses, he said.
Schulz also recommends calling the credit card issuer and asking if you can get better terms. For instance, some companies might waive annual fees for some customers, he says.
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He says people in San Francisco, Boston, and, not surprisingly, Washington DC, have more consumer credit debt than families in San Antonio, those city’s higher incomes make it easier to pay that debt off, and with less interest. Some people may be more motivated by paying the smallest balance first and then using the payments that used to go there to pay off the other cards.
