CHARLESTON, S.C.–A new survey has found student loan debt isn’t the most common debt weighing down Millennials: It’s credit card debt.
Sixty-seven percent of Millennials report having credit card debt, while just 36% of millennials say they have student loan debt, according to a survey conducted by Compare Cards.com.
“The survey also found that these cardholders are not feel very optimistic about their ability to pay the debt off. Almost 25% expect to never be debt-free,” CompareCards.com. “Some Millennials who do plan to pay off debt aren’t planning to do so any time soon.”
The survey found Millennials who took on their oldest existing debt at 24 years old expect to be debt free at 49.
“While student loans may not be the most common form of debt plaguing Millennials, they still play a role in the debt struggle for many,” CompareCards.com said in its analysis. “Juggling payments for student loans and credit cards, plus perhaps a mortgage or auto loan, can make paying off debt feel insurmountable.”
The Findings
Among the findings in the survey:
- 87% of Millennial cardholders carry some type of debt, including mortgages, auto loans, student loans and others. That’s just less than the 89% of Gen Xers who said the same, but far more than the 71% of Baby Boomers, the company said.
- Nearly 67% of Millennials say they have card debt, 36% student loan debt, 34% auto loans, 26% mortgages and 13% personal loans.
- 70% of those in credit card debt across all generations have at least one other type of debt as well, with auto loans (57%) and mortgages (50%) being most common, while 34% also have student loans. Also, 23% of those with credit card debt also have a personal loan.
- Gen Xers who owe expect to be debt-free at age 67, and they took on their oldest existing debt at age 30.
- Baby Boomers who owe expect to be debt-free at age 81, and they took on their oldest existing debt at age 49.
- The student loan debt crisis may get more Millennial attention than the burgeoning U.S. credit card debt crisis because of the amount owed per student loan borrower.
- The average college graduate left school in 2018 with $29,800 in student loan debt, while the average credit card debt balance for cardholders under 35 is $5,808.
- Millennials with debt expect to be debt-free at age 49, and they took on their oldest existing debt when they were 24.
- Overall, 62% of cardholders have credit card debt, 31% a mortgage, 31% an auto loan, 21% have student loans, 11% a personal loan, and 3% have another type of debt.
- Nearly 1-in-4 cardholders with debt expect that they’ll never be debt-free.
- Just 7% of cardholders with kids under 18 said they are debt free, compared to more than 20% of those with older children or no kids at all.
- 25% of women expect to die in debt vs. 19% of men.
- 16% of those expect to die in debt have a household income of more than $100,000.
Additional Findings
CompareCards.com noted there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to help Millennials with their debt woes. The company found just 13% of Millennials are completely debt free. It further found even Millennials who have managed to pay off student loans (or who never had student loans) may not be faring much better.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to help Millennials with their debt woes,” said Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at CompareCards. “A 35-year-old with two kids, two cars and a mortgage is likely in a much different place than a 24-year-old recent college graduate who is drowning in student loans and trying to get her career started, but they’re both millennials.”
CompareCards, a unit of LendingTree, commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey of 1,046 American cardholders, 839 of whom have at least one debt. The survey was fielded June 7-11, 2019, with the sample base proportioned to represent the general population. Generations are defined as follows:
- Millennials are ages 22-37
- Generation Xers are ages 38-53
- Baby boomers are ages 54-72
For the full survey, go here.