Denton Ranked Among U.S. Cities With Biggest Debt Increase

Denton residents were among those around American who saw their debt rise the most in 2019 according to a new report from personal-finance website WalletHub. The organization compared the amounts owed to credit card companies by people in more than 2,500 U.S. cities – specifically, how those balances changed in 2018, WalletHub stated in a news release.

The report used data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Reserve, and TransUnion.

The average household credit card debt in Denton is $14,063.

"After adding $67 billion in new credit card debt to our tab in 2018, U.S. consumers began 2019 owing a total of $1.03 trillion to credit card companies, according to WalletHub’s Credit Card Debt Study. We’re on pace to add another $60+ billion in credit card debt during 2019, too," WalletHub said.

Some other key findings from WalletHub's report:

• Trillion-dollar starting point. U.S. consumers began 2019 with a record $1.03 trillion in credit card debt.
• Expensive holiday season. Last year began with consumers repaying more than $40 billion in credit card debt during Q1, but it concluded with $108 billion in new debt being added to the books over the next three quarters.
• Expect a debt-driven 2019. WalletHub projects that consumers will rack up another $60 billion in credit card debt during 2019.
• Billions in debt beats political gridlock. 9 in 10 Americans say their personal finances are currently run better than the federal government. 3X more Democrats than Republicans think another recession will happen within two years.
• The bill will come due for Millennials. Young people are 35 percent more likely to go into credit card debt for frivolous purchases than people age 45+.
• Millions would bare-all before exposing their finances. Overall, 1 in 5 Americans say they would be more embarrassed by financial nudity than physical nudity. Women are 54 percent less likely than men to be embarrassed by people seeing how much credit card debt they have.
• Balance transfer offers are still attractive. The best balance transfer credit cards currently offer 0 percent APRs for the first 15-21 months with no annual fee and balance transfer fees as low as zero. Such deals likely will not be around for too much longer.
• Desperate times breed desperate measures. More than one-third of people (36 percent) say they would do ANYTHING to get out of credit card debt. Millennials are 4X more likely than baby boomers to agree to house arrest for a year in exchange for credit card debt freedom.