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Charging up a mountain of debt: accounting for the growth of credit card debt

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Abstract

Total U.S. credit card debt has almost doubled since 1988. Little is apparent from the aggregate data, however, about the composition of credit card debt growth. In this article, Peter S. Yoo separates household data into two categories: changes in the number of households with credit cards, and changes in average credit card debt for increased total credit card debt. Moreover, he finds that the principal contributors to the increase are households with above-average incomes rather than low-income households.

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  • Peter S. Yoo, 1997. "Charging up a mountain of debt: accounting for the growth of credit card debt," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Mar, pages 3-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:y:1997:i:mar:p:3-13
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    1. Rochelle L. Antoniewicz, 1996. "A comparison of the household sector from the Flow of Funds Accounts and the Survey of Consumer Finances," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 96-26, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Robert B. Avery & Gregory E. Elliehausen, 1986. "Financial characteristics of high-income families," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Mar, pages 163-177.
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    1. Peter S. Yoo, 1998. "Still charging: the growth of credit card debt between 1992 and 1995," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jan, pages 19-27.
    2. Sandra E. Black & Donald P. Morgan, 1999. "Meet the new borrowers," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 5(Feb).
    3. Chih-Hsiung Chang, 2022. "Information Asymmetry and Card Debt Crisis in Taiwan," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 123-145.
    4. Edward Castronova & Paul Hagstrom, 2004. "The Demand for Credit Cards: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 304-318, April.
    5. Lucia Dunn & Tufan Ekici & Paul J. Lavrakas & Jeffery A. Stec, 2004. "An Index to Track Credit Card Debt and Predict Consumption," Working Papers 04-04, Ohio State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Lucia Dunn & TaeHyung Kim, 1999. "Empirical Investigation of Credit Card Default," Working Papers 99-13, Ohio State University, Department of Economics.

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    Keywords

    Debt; Credit cards;

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