Credit card debt can be embarrassing. Interest rates are often sky-high. A maxed-out card might feel like a symbol of poor choices or lax financial discipline. And card debt is especially embarrassing, apparently, to people who earn a lot. Roughly two-fifths of consumers with credit card debt have lied about the amount of their debt, according to a 2025 survey from LendingTree, an online lending marketplace. Among those with card debt who earn more than $100,000 a year, the share who lie about it rises ...

Despite a tough financial year in 2025, many Americans are optimistic about the year ahead. A recent Intuit Credit Karma study found that although 49% of Americans believe that their financial situation worsened in 2025, 45% feel confident in their ability to reach their 2026 financial goals. One way they’re ensuring this is by reflecting on the missteps they made over the past year, and looking for ways to course-correct. Here are their top financial regrets of 2025 — and how to avoid them in 2026. Reg ...

A mortgage refinance exposed a financial secret that stunned a Chicago husband: his pregnant wife had quietly accumulated $50,000 in credit card debt. The 38-year-old man, identified as CJ, shared the situation on "The Ramsey Show," saying he was "terrified" after learning about the balance while the couple was already working to pay down other debts. Don't Miss: The ‘ChatGPT of Marketing' Just Opened a $0.85/Share Round — 10,000+ Investors Are Already In Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a ...

For example, the average credit card balance is $6,523, according to TransUnion . If you only make minimum payments at 19% APR, you could be in debt for 170 months and pay $6,491 in interest.“Minimum payments could keep you in debt for decades and cost you thousands of dollars in interest,” Rossman explains.Even if you’re making minimum payments on your balance, that may not cut it.About 3 in 5 cardholders (61%) with credit card balances have been in debt for at least a year — that’s up from 53% in late 202 ...

Doucefleur / Shutterstock.com Dave Ramsey put it pretty bluntly when a caller with a $200,000 combined income rang in asking what their next move is with their $8,000 debt and lack of emergency savings. He said to "cut up" those credit cards and pay off that credit card debt already. Indeed, Ramsey is right on the money as he usually is regarding those who have outstanding balances accumulating high double-digit interest on various credit cards. And while cutting up the cards seems a tad extreme, I do ...

Credit cards can be useful tools, but they can also lead to financial ruin. According to the Federal Reserve, the average rate paid on credit card accounts that were assessed interest is 22.83%. At that enormous interest rate, even small amounts of debt can rapidly spiral out of control. This is why it’s so important to understand what actually drives credit card debt, and what you can do to avoid it. Here are eight common contributors to credit card debt, along with strategies to counter them. 1. Carry ...

With federal oversight in retreat, deep-pocketed collection companies are aggressively pursuing down-and-out consumers who are struggling with record levels of credit card debt. Meanwhile, consumer complaints go unanswered. Learn more: https://t.co/e7ypugKnM7Illustration: Philip Smith for Forbes ...

A year ago, unpaid credit card debt hit its highest level since the Financial Crisis and has remained elevated since. https://t.co/rUz09NS2XNIllustration: Philip Smith for Forbes https://t.co/7Kn5zfbbRG ...

A year ago, unpaid credit card debt hit its highest level since the Financial Crisis and has remained elevated since. https://t.co/rUz09NS2XNIllustration: Philip Smith for Forbes https://t.co/oLFsM33swB ...

For a lot of us, Christmas is effectively a financial D-Day. The average shopper shells out over $1,000 on Christmas presents. Unfortunately, huge chunks of the country don’t actually have enough disposable income to cover those gifts. That’s when we normally turn to plastic to get our holiday shopping over the finish line. But that creates new problems. Right around the time your tree is heading to the curb, ‌credit card bills start to pop up in your inbox. And regardless of how many zeros you see on th ...