It appears as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel to the economic troubles being confronted by consumers. Syracuse residents are sharing this problem with deepening concerns about the rising credit debt many people are falling into. Gregory Bresiger has reported for the New York Post "US credit-card debt nearing toxic levels."
According to a credit-card industry observer total US consumer debt reached the highest point in a decade last year. Howard Dvorkin, a CPA and founder of ConsolidatedCredit.org, a credit counseling service, has said “Now more than ever, families need to work at saving and paying off any outstanding debts." Dvorkin says that, after a few months of reducing credit-card debt levels, Americans are starting to return to their reliance on debt.
Dvorkin has commented “People made some progress in reducing card debt earlier in the year, but in the last few months, as the stock market started to rise, they started to return to their old ways of charging things.” The total consumer debt, which is the combination of non-revolving and revolving debt, rose by some 9.3 percent to $2.498 trillion in December, according to the latest Federal Reserve Board numbers.
The central bank’s report said revolving debt and non-revolving debt increased. Revolving debt, which is credit-card debt, went up by 4.1 percent, while non-revolving debt, which includes loans for cars and education, rose 11.8 percent. Dvorkin says it is good to see an increase in consumer spending, but that it is never is it worth going into debt. And so beginning to pay down debt should be a top financial priority for everyone.
