It can be quite shocking to learn that the national credit card debt is an astronomical amount of money!  At the end of 2008, Americans' credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12% from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren't owned by a bank. The average outstanding credit card debt for households that have a credit card was $10,679 at the end of 2008. One year earlier, that average was $10,637.

And because of the fact that so many people are finding themselves underwater with all of their credit cards, more and more debt consolidation companies are getting bigger and bigger! There are companies opening up in this field all the time!

It is true that average credit card debt is extremely high however most people are not worried about this as they assume it is such a common problem! However, if more people could remove themselves from the "average" bracket, and have a lower oustanding credit card debt, then the overall average would drop! It has been shown recently that the average debt per all households is over $8000, and that many people consider this to be nothing to worry about!

There are a number of things you can do if you are stricken with a high credit card debt load! One of the best options is to get some professional help. You will learn the skills, and get some assistance on how to manage your finances and reduce your debt! Another option is to go through a credit card debt consolidation company so that you can get all your bills lowered down as well as brought together into one lump sum; and only have one bill to pay monthly. One of the best strategies is to get all of your payments rolled into one payment - this will make it much easier to manage.

The average interest rate (A.P.R.) is 14.99% industry wide. Now take that percentage and multiply it by $2.3 trillion dollars (2,300,000,000) and you will clearly see why the Banks continue to operate they way they do. The average working family requires 2 or 3 incomes to make ends meet, meanwhile our corporate high fliers pay themselves huge salaries. Greed at the corporate level has been a feature of business for many years. But you can decide how you respond. You can pay off the minimum, or work hard to reduce your outstanding debt!

At all cost, you should avoid getting approved for another credit card! By doing that, you will only be making your credit card debts higher; even if you planned to put all your debts onto that one card! However, the only thing that you will acheive is maybe getting your interest levels lowered or reduced because it may be a low interest credit card. What you will want to do is focus on paying off you credit card bills so that you no longer have credit card bills! For information on credit score check out this hub.

No matter what you do, there will always be an average American credit card debt; somewhere! Fantastic plastic has got us well and truly hooked. The attraction of credit cards never seems to diminish!