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> * Does that include retailers who offer 24 months interest free on a big purchase when opening the card?* Yes, it would because that's an ongoing/carried bal
by caseysoftware 3y ago
> * Does that include retailers who offer 24 months interest free on a big purchase when opening the card?*
Yes, it would because that's an ongoing/carried balance.
And you're right.. a better analysis would be: how many people continue carrying a balance after their introductory rate goes away?
Because retail credit cards have the highest rates by far:
> The average retail credit card annual percentage rate (APR) hit a new record high of 28.93% this year, up from 26.72% in 2022 and 24.35% in 2021, according to Bankrate’s annual Retail Cards Study out Monday. 28.93% APR is well above the national average, which clocks in at 20.71%
Ref: https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/retail-credit-card-rates-hit-record-high https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/retail-credit-card-rates...
- discardedrefuse 3y agoDon't forget about the most insidious aspect of these retail cards. Once that promotional no-interest period expires, your balance gets hit with all the accrued interest from the promotional period. So, anyone thinking of taking advantage of these promotions take heed: Pay off the entire balance before the promotion expires!
- jbaber 3y agoThis makes that debt really hard to measure. These debt bombs that retroactively make you have carried a balance for years in the past. Don't include them: you're missing all the people who transform into high debt carriers. Include them: you sweep in all the people who set an automatic payment to pay it off with a couple months to spare and forget about it.
- caseysoftware 3y agoTo further complicate things, the entire "Buy Now, Pay Later" industry does NOT report to credit agencies, etc until someone is late on payments (not sure how many days late). Therefore, there's an entire pile of debt that also is invisible to these metrics.