Debt Settlement Facts   

• If you are only making minimum payments on $20,000 in credit card debt, at a 18.9% interest rate, it can take you over 50 years to pay it off and you could pay over $50,000 in interest.




• You may be surprised to learn that credit card debt grows back 78% of the time after taking out a debt consolidation loan. Without a fundamental change in the spending habits of the consumer, a loan usually only makes things worse.




• The typical family spends more than 90% of its disposable income on debt service.



• 24% of the bankruptcies filed last year, were filed by people that are only 25 years old and younger.



• The amount lenders collect in late fees has risen from $1.7 billion in 1996 to $7.3 billion last year



• Americans are putting less money into savings. (U.S. personal savings rate has decreased from nearly 8.5% in the early 1980’s to less than zero today.)



• Most Americans are not saving nearly enough to fund their retirement.


• Consumer debt is on the rise. It rose from $731 billion in 1992 to about $1.5 trillion today. This includes a huge increase in unsecured credit card debt: from $292 billion in 1992 to $654 billion at the end of 2000. It is a remarkable trend since credit card debt was only $50 billion in 1980.