Do you know how much debt credit card debt you carry? A recent survey shows that many people do not – particularly women between the ages of 18 and 36.
Thirty-four percent of Millennial women who have credit card don’t know precisely how much they owe, according to the survey, and 40% who have student loans don’t know the exact amount of that debt. The survey, which asked more than 1200 women about their finances, was conducted by Toluna Quicksurveys for the 1,000 Dreams Fund.
Questions included how they spend their money, how much they have in savings, and how much they owe in credit card and student loan debt. Christie Garton, Founder and CEO of the 1,000 Dreams Fund, said that many young women are having difficulty with finances.
“Debt and money issues among Millennial women have dominated news headlines lately and for good reason: young people are struggling. We wanted to better understand how these issues are uniquely impacting young women in our country, and frankly, it’s shocking,” said Garton.
Key findings of the survey included:
• 67% of respondents had student loan debt, either now or in the past
• Twenty percent of respondents with student loan debt had between $5,000 and $10,000 of debt, 19% had between $10,000 and $25,000, 22% had between $25,000 and $50,000, and 12% had more than $50,000.
• Forty-one percent of respondents didn’t get any scholarship or other assistance to help pay for their education, outside of student loans.
• Ninety-four percent of those with student debt were concerned about their ability to pay it off.
• Sixty-seven percent of 18-36 year-old women had at least one credit card, and 79% of those had credit card debt.
• Sixty-one percent of women with credit card debt worry about their debt, and 42% said they worry about debt “always” or “frequently.”
• Of those who didn’t have a credit card, 53% said they didn’t have one because they were worried about getting into debt and wanted to avoid it.
One way to avoid getting into credit card debt is to pay off your balance in full each month. Those who are struggling to pay off existing debt can always use a balance transfer credit card to reduce the amount of interest they are paying on that debt.
Not having a credit card at all can result in having no or limited credit, which can impact the ability to be approved for a mortgage, car loan, apartment, or other type of loan in the future.