Americans paying off credit cards and other saving facts

Just got some interesting economic factoids from the website BillShrink.com. Are you part of the savings trend?

• 46% of credit card holders paid their bill in full each month in Feb. 2009
• 59% of credit card holders paid their bill in full each month in Feb. 2010
• The average American family had $2,000 in unexpected expenses last year
• Americans have reduced their debt by $101.2 billion in the past 14 months ($1,874 per household)
• We are currently saving at record rates, setting a 15-year high (Check out BillShrink’s super cool graphic about American’s personal savings and debt, which goes back to 1960).
• We still over pay for lots of stuff, including ATM fees, credit card late fees, and dealership auto maintenance (though I’m seeing coupons from dealers these days)

To get this data BillShrink surveyed 154,000 users on its site from February 2009-January 2010. The pay off rate has been steadily increasing each month, according to the responses below.

Yes, I pay off balance each month No, I don’t pay off balance each month
02-09 46.03% 53.97%
03-09 45.92% 54.08%
04-09 41.75% 58.25%
05-09 43.19% 56.81%
06-09 46.28% 53.72%
07-09 46.92% 53.08%
08-09 48.72% 51.28%
09-09 51.21% 48.79%
10-09 51.99% 48.01%
11-09 54.73% 45.27%
12-09 57.25% 42.75%
01-10 58.63% 41.37%

I’m curious how BargainBabe.com readers compare to the national average.

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