Do they somehow encourage paying only the minimum each month? I think what I’m asking is if people tend to pay everything at the end of the month and have 0 credit card debt at beginning of each month or does everyone have some debt all the time for some reason?
I get it that if you don’t have enough money to cover your daily expenses you will just start accumulation more and more debt but what if you make more money than you spend? People just pay it right away, right?
I personally pay mine off every month, but I am more fortunate than many. I think a lot of people fall behind on their bills.
People have to prioritize rent and utilities every month just to stay off the streets. Then food, healthcare, and other essential expenses need to be taken care of. Anything that can’t be paid for out of pocket goes on the credit card, and since you only need to make a minimum payment on a credit card, a lot of people will do that to keep their heads above water until next month rolls around.
It’s a vicious cycle and once that interest gets added in you are really only paying down the interest and not reducing the principal.
It seems to me that a lot of US people use credit cards to smoothen over larger purchases, so if you buy say a guitar for your hobby it doesn’t come all for this month’s budget but you plan to pay it off over multiple months. Often, credit card companies also encourage this behavior, giving short term low interest loans. But the overall market in the US is way more volatile than in Europe, so in the months you are paying off (your guitar, that fancy holiday, the tickets to a show…) you could lose your job, or the interests on your house mortgage could change significantly. And you are screwed.
Overall, Europeans tend to dislike credit unless it’s in the format of a mortgage, while it is a much more widespread form of payment in the US (and many other places). So, to most of your questions the answer is: most people have some credit card debt at all times.
Do they somehow encourage paying only the minimum each month? I think what I’m asking is if people tend to pay everything at the end of the month and have 0 credit card debt at beginning of each month or does everyone have some debt all the time for some reason?
I get it that if you don’t have enough money to cover your daily expenses you will just start accumulation more and more debt but what if you make more money than you spend? People just pay it right away, right?
I personally pay mine off every month, but I am more fortunate than many. I think a lot of people fall behind on their bills.
People have to prioritize rent and utilities every month just to stay off the streets. Then food, healthcare, and other essential expenses need to be taken care of. Anything that can’t be paid for out of pocket goes on the credit card, and since you only need to make a minimum payment on a credit card, a lot of people will do that to keep their heads above water until next month rolls around.
It’s a vicious cycle and once that interest gets added in you are really only paying down the interest and not reducing the principal.
It seems to me that a lot of US people use credit cards to smoothen over larger purchases, so if you buy say a guitar for your hobby it doesn’t come all for this month’s budget but you plan to pay it off over multiple months. Often, credit card companies also encourage this behavior, giving short term low interest loans. But the overall market in the US is way more volatile than in Europe, so in the months you are paying off (your guitar, that fancy holiday, the tickets to a show…) you could lose your job, or the interests on your house mortgage could change significantly. And you are screwed.
Overall, Europeans tend to dislike credit unless it’s in the format of a mortgage, while it is a much more widespread form of payment in the US (and many other places). So, to most of your questions the answer is: most people have some credit card debt at all times.