"Retiring in the Red" is part of the Borrowing to Make Ends Meet Briefing Paper Series. Reports an 89% average increase in credit card debt among America's seniors from 1992 to 2001.
Key Findings
Seniors (over age 65)
Average revolving balances among indebted seniors over 65 increased by 89 percent, to $4,041.
Seniors between 65 and 69 years old, presumably the newly-retired, saw the most staggering rise in credit card debt -- 217 percent -- to an average of $5,844.
Female-headed senior households experienced a 48 percent rise between 1992 and 2001, to an average of $2,319.
Among seniors with incomes under $50,000 (70 percent of seniors), about one in five families with credit card debt is in debt hardship -- spending over 40 percent of their income on debt payments, including mortgage debt.
Transitioners (ages 55 - 64)
Transitioners experienced a 47 percent increase in their credit card debt between 1992 and 2001, to an average of $4,088.
The average credit card-indebted family in this age group now spends 31 percent of their income on debt payments, a 10 percentage point increase over the decade.
The credit card debt of middle- to low-income transitioner families without health insurance increased by 169 percent, as opposed to by only 37 percent for like-income families with health insurance.
