Actually, America Is Massively Slowing Its Debt Binge

12/11/2009 by Research Reloaded

A lot of people have this false notion that the U.S. has suddenly, as a nation, started adding debt like never before. This is because we hear about these giant government debt numbers every day, but rarely hear about the private side of the equation -- which is even larger and is falling.

Thus the point here is to disprove the notion that America is massively adding debt. The government is, but the country as a whole (inclusive of the government binge), isn't. In fact, debt growth is slowing like never before in recent history.

See the full piece over at The Money Game.

 

Comments

credit cards forcing credit line reductions

One thing I have personally noticed over the past couple years and especially recently, is that credit cards are now being extremely cautious. Recently I had multiple credit cards automatically cancelled because they were being unused, I was only saving them to have credit when I needed it. In the past this never happened to me, I always had credit cards on hand for a rainy day that haven't been used in years, and they always remained active. Also recently I took out a significant size loan from Chase, and within a month, every credit card, even Citi and Discover, drastically reduced my credit limits. Discover in particular reduced my credit limit from $10,500 all the way down to $900. I had well over $100,000 in credit which has been drastically chopped down now to under $50,000. In the years past, I have taken out and paid back these personal loans numerous times with no effect on any of my credit lines, so I was really surprised to see how seriously cautious credit cards have become lately, even with me having a really good credit score. So I wouldn't be surprised if this policy change with the credit cards is a major factor contributing to the domestic debt reduction.

Written by Anonymous (not verified) - 12/16/2009