STUDY: Illinois’ Credit Card Debt Is Growing Like Crazy

This video just came across my timeline the other day. I'm not sure why (probably because of my credit card debt) but it definitely is a good way to kick off this article.

I know, in this economy, it's tough out there. A lot of people are dealing with debts they feel they can't get out of. Credit cards are the worst because of their high interest rates and just how easily it is to get carried away with them.

Some people in some states are better at managing credit card debts than others. Illinois is a state that has a hard time with it.

Illinois Has The 5th Highest Credit Card Debt Increases

It makes sense when everything is insanely inflated that people start putting a lot of their needs and expenses on credit cards. It's the quickest way to get money loaned to you but it's the most expensive way to deal with it if you constantly pay interest.

Trust me, I'm no money expert, but the folks at WalletHub are. That's why they've been ranking each state with the most debt increases over each quarter for a while now.

To determine the states with the largest and smallest credit card debt increase from Q1 2024 to Q2 2024, they analyzed the latest data on consumers’ finances from TransUnion, as well as the Federal Reserve, adjusted for inflation. This is how each state ranked:

WalletHub says that the collective American tab sits at roughly $1.28 trillion, around $109 billion of which came from last year alone.

Illinois alone accounts for $48,779,431,952 in credit card debt. The average Illinois household has $10,764 which is up $274 from the previous report.

Iowa accounts for $9,857,672,479 in credit card debts and saw an increase of $213 per household. Each Iowa home has an average of $8,377 in credit card debt.

Wow.