They're plastic and shiny.

They fit perfectly into your wallet.

You can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars up front and then you can pay that back over

time.

From that angle, credit cards look like a great deal.

But what this definition leaves out is the high interest rates, the late fees, and the

cycle of debt cardholders can find themselves in.

Nearly half of US credit card owners had an average of more than $5,200 in outstanding

debt in 2022.

Credit card debt overall is at a historic high.

In the last three months of 2022, credit card balances rose from $61 billion to nearly $990

billion dollars, that's according to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

And that debt is likely to surpass $1 trillion this year.

We heard from some of you about your credit card struggles.

During the pandemic, I was not unemployed, but under employed.

I worked in the live music industry.

My venue was closed for 15 months.

So we really relied on the credit card to survive during that time.

My debt really kind of built up during that time and I really haven't been able to get

on top of it since then.

It's been an uphill battle.

Our family's had a lot of ups and downs with credit card debt over the years.

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