Interest rates are going north of 18% yet those who maintain a balance on their credit cards say they have no interest in cutting back on their spending habits, says Ted Rossman of CreditCards.com.
He looked at nine areas where people can be more frugal in discretionary spending, and found those who carry a balance spend more in every category than people who pay off their balance each month. The categories include car loan/lease; leisure travel; dining/takeout; clothing, shoes and accessories; cell phone service, upgrades; out of home entertainment; fitness; subscription services; personal care, beauty.
“We asked about extras and found a lot of people are spending a lot of money on these extras,” Rossman tells KTRH News. “On average it’s about $10,000 a year.”
Nearly 1 in 5 of those with credit card debt won’t cut back in any of those discretionary spending categories, he found in his study.
“We found that households with credit card debt are outspending debt free households in seven of the nine categories,” Rossman adds. He says people can enjoy the things they like that are monthly budgeted items, just in more reasonable levels.