Decade Of Debt – Most Americans are out of money and patience

This sickening snapshot of the U.S. shows us that it will take the average American 7.45 years of paying off debts.

That means for most of this decade, and even more than a decade for Hawaiians (who have an average of 10.10 years to look forward to), Americans will be paying off debts. These metrics assume no late payments and 10% of individuals’ yearly incomes devoted to paying off debts.

This will be the decade of debt.

The 1980s might be remembered for neon leggings, the 1990s for scrunchies, the 2000s for MySpace, but the gaudy, unappealing thing people will most likely remember of the 2010s could be the struggle to make student loan payments

Of course, student loans aren’t the only debt weighing down these metrics. Mortgage payments, personal loans, and other types of debt raise this problem.

Americans owe more than $800 billion in student debt alone, but healthcare costs are the number one cause of bankruptcy.

No matter why we have the debt, it’ll be the span of an entire childhood before we’ll be able to pay it off. Even in states with excellent rates like Texas, we’ll still see Star Wars Episode IX and the last legs of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe long before we’ll see locals there pay off their debts after about five years.

These numbers exclude 9% of the population, who have no credit.

Mississippi has excellent numbers in this list, at only $31,065 average debt and a payoff estimate of 5.81 years, but it also happens to be arguably the poorest state in the nation. This is because the locals have to turn to unofficial avenues of borrowing, like pawn shops rather than banks, to get the cash they need. Considering these populations might make the average time to pay off debts increase a great deal.

Another thing to look at closely is income versus debt metrics. Hawaii is and Colorado, for instance, have debt and income numbers that are uncomfortably close to each other, which might have to do with the cost of living.

If you’re in the 20% of Americans without debt, you’re one of the lucky ones. The reality is that you’re a rare unicorn; 80% of Americans are in debt.

Most Americans are out of money and patience, but responsible.

If it feels like everything from charity contributions to Patreon participation to insurance is a “hard sell” these days, it’s probably because it is.

Meanwhile, bank card delinquencies are considerably lower than they were about ten years ago. Individuals are more suspicious of risky ventures like credit cards. Millennials are very unlikely to have a revolving debt on credit cars and far more likely to use them to hack travel points.

Americans seem to be tightening the belt. We are actually paying back on a lot of these loans, but it’ll take a long time. Many hope they won’t get sick or miss a payment in the meantime. It’s a long time to go without either.

[This infographic was brought to you by OneMain Financial Group, LLC..]