These States Have the Most Credit Card Debt. Did Yours Make the List?

Credit cards are powerful little pieces of plastic.

You can swipe away until you hit your cap. Even then, you might already be ankle deep in debt. Then consider interest rates, which cause that debt to continue to build…

OK, enough of that. I’m getting anxiety just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, many people live with credit card debt.

Credit education website Credit Sesame was curious: Which states have the highest and lowest amounts of credit card debt?

It looked at 2 million people in its database. Of those people, it collected data from 6 million credit cards.

Here’s what it found.

6 States With the Most Credit Card Debt

Credit Sesame calculated the average debt per account for each state. These five proved to have the most debt.

1. Indiana — $5,250
2. Alaska — $4,348
3. West Virginia — $3,565
4. Arkansas — $3,386
5. Louisiana — $3,270
6. Mississippi — $2,949

Here’s How to Find Out How Much Credit Card Debt You Have

Want to know where you personally stand when it comes to credit card debt?

Pull a free credit report from a site like Credit Sesame. It’ll break down what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and even offer tips on how to spruce things up a bit.

If you’re having trouble getting started, take notes from these people, who collected a total of $250,000 in debt — and then paid it off.

Ready to pay off your credit card debt?

If you fall behind on your credit card debt, you may find yourself getting crushed by interest rates north of 20%. You’ll never catch up that way. You’re spending so much on interest, you’ll never pay off your balances.

It might be worth consolidating or refinancing your debt.

By refinancing an existing loan, you’re taking out a totally new loan, which comes with new terms and (ideally) a lower interest rate. Credible is an online marketplace that offers consumers personalized loan offers. Think of it like Zillow — but for personal loans.

Rates start at 5.99%, and you can check yours by entering a loan amount here ($500 to $40,000) and comparing your personalized options in under 90 seconds.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She didn’t start using a credit card full time until last year. Even so, she’s still paranoid about paying it off each month, but she appreciates the airline points.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2hLdQIU