Americans love being No. 1! I mean who doesn’t? But here in the good old U-S of A we place a little extra emphasis on being at the top.
However…This is not a list you want to be on top of.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
The good news is U.S. consumers owe 6.4% less now than they did in 2008, which is when debt hit its peak (around the same time the nation’s economy went down the tubes).
But there’s some bad news for one particular state. Its residents owe a lot more money that the national average.
California is the not-so-lucky winner of this contest. According to the Federal Reserve, consumers in the Golden State have an average debt load of $78,000! That’s compared to the U.S. average of $49,000 – a pretty wide margin.
To be fair – the biggest chunk of consumer debt in every state is mortgage debt. It’s common knowledge that the cost of living in California is much higher than just about anywhere else in the country. Owning a condo in most areas of California will cost you quite a bit more than a four bedroom home somewhere like Dubuque, Iowa
But just as we’ve seen across the rest country – the median price of a home in California has dropped significantly. San Diego based real estate tracking firm MDA DataQuick reported last December that the median price for a home in California was $249,000. But the typical California home was valued at $402,000 in December of 2007.
That’s a big change in two years.
“Major declines in house prices and the continuing high level of unemployment are reflected in the various measures of household debt and credit,” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, VP of the New York Fed’s Research and Statistics Group.
The fact is – folks in sunny California are far from the only ones facing personal finances challenges. People all over America can benefit from better money management.
At Check Advantage, we know that when you use personal checks you’re not going to see those problems disappear. But if you use checks responsibly, and keep track of your spending using a check register, you’ll see a clear picture of your financial situation.
Personal checks won’t solve the nation’s biggest problems. Checks can’t ignite a comeback in the real estate market, they can’t help you get a lower interest rate on your mortgage.
However, when you think of personal checks as a personal finance tool – you’ll discover how sticking to a budget with the help of checks makes it easier to pay off more of that mortgage.
At Check Advantage, we’re proud to offer personal checks and business checks to our customers at affordable prices – because finding financial freedom is important.
Let’s end this post with a little bit more good news for California.
The New York Fed’s research also shows that the states with the highest amount of debt are also paying off their debt the fastest! It’s apparent that people all over the country are getting things together and getting out of debt.
Image: Paul Martin Eldridge / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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