The average American's credit card debt may shock you

BY: TC Newman, Buzz60

Sometimes it's wanting things that are out of our budget or an emergency comes up where we need access to immediate cash, whatever the reason, Americans are racking up the credit card debt.

Statistics show the average American credit card debt is reported to be between $3600 and $5700, which doesn't sound too bad when you compare it to the average household income of over $55,000.

The majority of credit card users pay their balance monthly clearing out those big debts.

When the people who pay their balances are taken out of the equation, the average credit card debt for those who have a monthly balance jumps to $16,047!

Making minimum payments every month, and not acquiring any more debt, it would take a person 14 years to retire that balance. Factoring in average interest fees, that $16047 would cost $40,200 to pay off.

What's worse is who is carrying that much debt - the people who can afford it least. ValuePenguin says households with negative or zero net worth are on average strapped down by over $10,300 in credit card debt.

Credit card debt cannot be blamed on female shopping habits! Men actually carry over $2100 more on their credit cards than women do.

Millennials or those over 70 carry the least amount of debt while people between the ages of 45 and 54 carry the most.