Study finds record Q2 increase in credit card debt—here’s how West Virginia stacks up

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Amid persistent inflation and rising concerns about a prolonged recession, a new WalletHub study found that an all-time record for credit card debt was set during the second quarter of a financial year in 2022: $67.1 billion.

Wallethub’s study also found that the rise in debt was more dramatic in some states than in others, with California ($7,610,582,696) seeing the biggest debt increase, followed by Texas ($5,872,759,512), Florida ($4,609,647,346), New York ($4,160,718,866) and Illinois ($2,626,375,641). The states with the lowest increase in debt were Alaska ($196,520,703), South Dakota ($169,917,629), North Dakota ($155,140,457), Wyoming ($127,027,394) and Vermont ($131,966,799).

West Virginia was ranked 37th, with a lower ranking meaning a lower increase in debt. According to WalletHub, West Virginians have a total of $5,736,651,978 in credit card debt, with an increase of $361,406,968 in Q2. WalletHub’s study breaks that down to $7,207 in credit card debt per household in the Mountain State, with an increase of $492 per household in Q2.

WalletHub predicts that Americans will end the year with roughly $110 billion more in credit card debt than they started with, which would be close to an annual record, and cautioned that credit card debt will become more expensive soon, because the Federal Reserve is expected to raise its target rate by 75 basis points on Sept. 21. The financial outlet said it predicts the change will cost people with credit card debt an extra $5.3 billion over the next 12 months.

Click here to see WalletHub’s full study.

WalletHub also recently conducted a survey about the Fed’s anticipated rate increase and concluded that 85% of Americans are currently concerned about inflation and 62% of people say inflation has affected their monthly grocery expenses the most, followed by gas (32%) and housing (6%).