Credit information site Card Hub recently released its 2014 credit card debt study. Â The study results show that the economy has improved, but not as much as reported numbers make it seem. Card Hub notes the Department of Labor’s May jobs report and recent figures on consumer credit card debt.
According to the labor department there were an additional  217,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy last month, but  approximately seven million more jobs are necessary to make up for population growth in order to make a significant difference.  Furthermore, Card Hub mentions that while U.S. consumers paid down roughly $32.5 billion in credit card debt during the first quarter of 2014, this is a 1% decrease compared to the first quarter of 2013.
Card Hub’s report says that consumers have been shown to pay off a lot of debt at the beginning of the year, but last year the rate of paying down debt was 4% lower than in 2012. Not surprisingly, U.S. consumers ended 2013 with 6% more debt overall. Card Hub asserts that consumers will finish 2014 with a $41.9 billion net increase in credit card debt. This is 8% more than last year and a 14% increase compared to 2012.
Some of Card Hub’s study results:
- Card Hub asserts that consumers will charge-off on $30.53 billion in credit card debt during 2014. If this proves to be true, consumers will have defaulted on nearly $300 billion ($298.5 billion) in credit card debt since 2009.
- The average household credit card balance decreased by $352 during the first quarter of 2014, and is now $6,628.
- At 3.32%, the quarterly credit card default rate — down 0.3% from 2013 after a 12% decline last year — seems to be stabilizing near historical lows.