What Drives Credit Card Debt

There is a widespread concern about rising levels of debt. Debt can become disastrous for those who live alone or those families who are already having problems with supporting their family. The people who might be struck by debt, they might have trouble recovering. Debt can cause Americans to lose their homes and stability they need to feed, and shelter their families. Although debt comes upon us Americans quickly, people can see debt as terrible thing to be stuck with. It has many disadvantages that can devastate to people.

Credit cards have become increasingly popular world-wide, making it easier to buy now and pay later but are they actually helping or hindering someone’s credit? “Maxed Out” by James D. Scurlock demonstrates how credit cards can hurt someone’s credit, while “Why Won’t Anyone give Me a Credit Card” by Kevin O’Donnell demonstrates how someone may have financial stability to pay off a credit card, but still be consistently denied one by the credit card companies. Owning credit cards is not the problem; the problem is being irresponsible with it.

The later idea suggests that one of the major conflicts associated with credit card debt among college students is because of the relaxed view taken on credit. To illustrate, “83% of college undergraduate students in the US have credit cards…”(Wang & Xiao, 2009) exemplifying the potential danger of accruing debt by signing up for so manu credit cards. Furthermore, with increased costs of education, universities find it is acceptable for students to pay for tuition by credit card. In certain circumstances, credit cards have become a quick remedy and students are forced to supplement income to pay for education and other necessities and as a result perpetuate the debt issue.

Credit card debt is one of this nation’s leading internal problems, and it has been for around the last 3-4 decades. When credit was first introduced, and up until around the late 1970’s up to today, the standards for getting a credit card were very high; so not everybody could get one. The bar got lowered and lowered to where, eventually, an 18 year-old college student with almost no income and nothing to base a credit score on previously could obtain a credit card (much like myself). The national credit card debt for families residing in the United States alone is in the trillions (Maxed Out). The average American family has around $9,000 in debt, and pays

The debt might be a contributor or it may not be. In August, 2014 seventy-two percent of Americans feel financially stressed (apa). The wealthy suffer from financial stress as well as the poor. Financial stress causes health risks such as ulcers, migraines, and sleep disturbances to many other disorders that can affect a person’s daily life (everydayhealth). The stress that is caused when spending too much money or wasting money on pointless items can be tremendous money. Even if the wealthy do live a luxurious lifestyle, it soon will lead to bad side effects. When financial stress occurs, a wealthy person assumes that if paying back whatever it is that is needed to be paid back, the struggle will be fixed. Many wealthy people do not begin a realistic budget to help monitor their spending, which will help lower stress levels (everydayhealth). If people are too busy buying or spending money on expensive items on a whim and finally see the all the bills afterwards will lead to financial stress. Not everyone will experience this because they know how to control themselves. Other people have the leisure to not worry about spending too much on the latest item. They simply do not care about what happens afterwards. Everything will slowly build up and create health disorders like stress, depression, or anxiety. The wealthy may not think or have a second thought about how

For many in the middle class student debt has a strong and relentless grasp on their economic future. In their article "Why Free Higher Ed Can't Wait" Jeje Biola and Belinda Rodriguez state that, "Student debt has reached a record total of over $1.3 trillion" (6). This has left many people wondering where this is coming from and wanting change. This number is just too high in the minds of the average American. In the last few years free college tuition has been a hot topic in American politics, as recently as the 2016 presidential race. Candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton proved to be a huge push for free tuition. The raising college tuition rates effect all Americans in some form or fashion, so support is quickly rising especially

An article in The Atlantic, an online news source, talks about a person’s mental health while living with student debt. The author, Gillian B. White, pulls evidence from a 2013 study published in Anxiety, Coping and Stress, from the University of Southern California, in which states, “those with greater financial strain perceived more stress, had more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ill-health.” This quote states that a person with more financial strain was shown to undergo more stress, and increase signs of depression, anxiety, and bad health. This statistic proves that giving a young adult a financial burden to live with for years, takes a major toll on their mental health status. Mental health is a serious issue, and shouldn’t be taken so lightly.

College is a heavy financial burden. That is why understanding money saving at a young age can help you in the end. Many look past the point of having to pay for college and go ahead at it blindly. Most who do this will end up signing the papers for student loans just so they can pay for college. Signing up for student loans can lead to many bad situations some of which include debt and dropping out of college. This is why it is crucial to try and stay away from student loans and pay cash for college.

One research looked at the effects that student debt has on college graduates and their chances of marrying after college. The researcher collected data by interviewing and survey college graduates. The participates were men and women who receive their bachelor’s degree in 1993. There were 9,410 participates who were all single adults after college. The researcher finds were that men and women differ when it comes to marriage and loan debt (Bozick,2014). In conclusion, man who are high in debt are less likely to marry after college than those who are lower in debt. Women are more acceptable to getting married, while having large sums of student loan debt which shows that man and women differed with marriage (Bozick,2014). Dwyer, Hodson, Mccloud (2013) research focus on how debt affects men and women differently and how they take different paths. Some men and women may go to college after high school, and some may jump into the job market. The researchers discovered that debt affects men and women differently when trying to pay off their debt. Men have it easier to pay off their debt, because more employers are willing to pick them over women, which put women at a disadvantage. Bozick (2014) also looked at the differences in men and women, but by looking at debt and marriage rates. He found that they’re also a difference on how debt affects men and women. His findings were that men are less likely to marry if he is high debt. Women are more acceptable to marry if she has high debt, compared to men. Both researchers concluded that men and women differ with it comes to

I often wondered why the wealthiest country in the world, forcing their children into dangerous situations that will allow them to be victimized by illicit industries to pay their college debt? In middle school, I learned that when solving a word problem or answering a question the first step is to examine the cause. Therefore, in this essay, I will examine the main cause driving college students to take part in illicit activities to pay their student loan debt. Furthermore, I will examine the demand to pay clause with student loans being the only option for many middle and working class families to pay college debt. Subsequently, I will conduct a survey consisting of one hundred college students from different universities to determine

The government is in debt, not just the U.S government, but the people are in debt too. They expect us the pay the slack of what the big rich corporations that use to pay. Until president Ronald Reagan; screw us over with a bill he passed. They use to pay about thirty percent of taxes now they just pay like five percent. We the people need to try to stop spending what is not worth while. We need the rich and big companies need to pay more taxes because , the middle and poor don’t have money to pay off there slack all the time. It’s crazy that many people live paycheck after paycheck. They don’t have time relax and have a vacation their Hustlin 24/7. That’s sad how they're

In “Monsters and Mortgages,” Garry Leonard uses classic horror movies to describe one true horror: Debt. He uses iconic scenes from movies such as Psycho and The Shining. In his article he describes people who are in debt to have reported had multiple health issues. Which isn’t surprising being in debt isn’t a walk in the park. People can’t run from debt and there is no way to escape it so until it is handle it is just causing problems on top of problems for everyone involved.

This study examines the "Debt Poor" defined by Pressman and Scott (2009) as individuals and families who have more consumer debts than those categorized as poor, but also do not qualify for government subsidies, such as Medicaid. The scholars argued that interest payments on consumer debt should be subtracted from household income to measure poverty, yet an estimated additional 4 million Americans from 2007, likely middle class once having access to considerable consumer credit following a loss of income put their living standard below the poverty threshold. In contrast, extensive evidence determines that the debt poor are slightly similar to the poor (they are unlikely to own a home or hold private health insurance), somewhat like middle-class

Moreover, a large debt load is associated with postsecondary education. Preparing for college includes seeking out all venues for lowering the cost of tuition. economic support from you limited resources debt incurred to pay for the college leads many to delay marrying, delay buying houses

“The average American owns 3.5 credit cards and $15,799 in credit card debt… totaling consumer debt of $2.43 trillion in the USA alone.” (Beckner). Debt forces many people into depression and worrying lives. People struggle to discover happiness through financing goods, but struggle even more to find a way out of debt. Through consumerism, people lose their finances in department stores, car dealerships, and much more. Most of the possessions people buy with credit cards become impractical within a few months. The void they search for is never really filled. Consumerism is just a way to get the economy going, without thinking of a person’s individual finance