Holiday Spending Expected to Drive Credit Card Debt to New Highs
• Credit card debt is at an all-time high, with the average cardholder owing around $6,000; holiday spending is expected to drive this debt even higher • The earliest forms of credit date back to ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets; modern plastic credit cards arrived in 1959 • Interest rates advertised for new credit cards are only valid for the first year; rates can change anytime after • Making a late payment hurts your credit score, but you have a 30-day grace period before it's reported • 70 million new credit card accounts have opened in the U.S. since 2019, contributing to high debt levels