To look at the kind of data the Federal Reserve puts out you would think Americans had turned quite responsible about paying off credit card debt.
Apparently, American credit card debt has come down by about 10% over the past quarter.
Isn't that stupendous news? You've been hearing forever from everyone from Suze Orman to Oprah that Americans just have no idea how to handle their financial lives.
Here finally is proof positive that America has finally learned how to treat credit cards with a little respect.
Or is it? American banks didn't really have an extra 10% of their outstanding loans paid back; it's just that once a loan account at a bank remains unpaid for six months, banking regulations require that they write that loan off as uncollectible.
America's debt can lose some of its scary edge without having anyone actually paying off credit card debt.
There are other ways in which figures to do with the banking industry can mislead.
For instance, you get all worked up about how much credit card debt shrank from between April and June of last year and you are encouraged; and then when you learn about how much it grew with new consumer credit card purchases, and you learn that that figure is twice the figure the total shrank by.
Statistics released by the banking industry can be quite incomprehensible to most people.
What are consumers supposed to do then who really wish to turn those figures around by paying off credit card debt? Anyone who finds themselves beginning to lag behind in their payments should start off on the right foot and 'fess up.
They should arrange for a meeting with a credit counselor or a bankruptcy attorney.
Doing this gives you a bit of information on what your options are.
Doing this doesn't mean that you need to go and declare bankruptcy.
It just means that you are serious about what you owe.
You can make a mention of this when you start to speak with your bank and earn a little extra credibility.
Carrying huge balances from month to month and merely scraping by making the minimum payments can be a pretty strong sign that one is heading for bankruptcy.
To help salvage the situation, one could consider a debt management plan.
This could be a lot better for your credit score than bankruptcy or debt settlement.
Credit counselors can often help you work out a repayment schedule that you can manage.
Debt settlement has always been a dangerous option for people to choose.
This is where you are offered a plan where you don't need to pay everything you owe.
At these places, you get questionable sounding advice that asks you to skip credit card payments.
And they charge substantial fees too for this kind of advice before they actually do anything for you.
A lot of the time, people just walk away from these settlement firms having paid the fee and found nothing valuable offered.
Thankfully, a new federal law makes sure that these companies are not allowed to charge you up front.
You don't even need their help anymore for a debt settlement program.
If you are well past a payment, you'll get a call from the bank asking if you are interested in a settlement deal.