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Experian Study Shows 14 Percent of Consumers Have More
Than 10 Credit Cards and One in Seven Consumers Use at Least 50 Percent of
Their Available Credit
Experian’s National Score Index study showed that nationally about 14 percent of
consumers have more than 10 credit cards. The states with the highest percent
of consumers with at least 10 credit cards are New Hampshire and New Jersey
where average is approximately 20 percent.
More critical to financial management is how much consumers use the cards they
carry and nationally one in seven consumers (14.3 percent) use 50 percent or
more of their available credit. Alaska and Hawaii top this category with about
17 percent of their residents using more than 50 percent of their available
credit. Overall the study found:
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U.S. consumers have an average of 4 credit cards
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Approximately 51 percent of the U.S. population have at least two credit cards
and approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population have more than 10 credit
cards
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About 14 percent of the U.S. population use at least 50 percent of their
available credit
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U.S. consumers who use at least 50 percent of their available credit carry an
average of 6.6 credit cards
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The national average credit score for those with credit card utilization of at
least 50 percent is 645 compared to the overall national average of 674
Using credit cards to purchase items now and pay them off over time is a
convenient way for consumers to get the items they want or need that they may
have never been able to afford if they had to pay in full at the time of
purchase. Although convenient, consumers should keep in mind that good credit
management means being able to pay on time each month and paying off debt in a
reasonable amount of time. Maxing out credit cards may also have a negative
affect on their credit score.
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