Legal Information Database-international lawyers-top lawyers-find lawyers

THE USE OF CREDIT is a way of life in the United States. At any one time, about three-fourths of American households have some form of debt. They owe money for their credit purchases of cars, appliances, clothing, vacation trips and other goods and services. Just over two-fifths of households have loans secured by their homes. [The “Buying and Selling a Home” and chapters in this publication cover home mortgages.]
Over the past decade, American households devoted about six percent to almost eight percent of their monthly after-tax income to make monthly payments on their installment debts, and 5.5 percent to almost 6.0 percent of their after-tax income on home mortgage payments. Taken together, consumers total monthly payments on their debts ranged from 11.2 percent to 14.2 percent of their after-tax incomes. The high for the decade was reached in the fourth quarter of 1999. Current quarterly data may be obtained from www.federalreserve.gov/releases/.
This chapter can help you better understand how to use credit, how to determine if you are reaching or have reached your credit limit, and what to do if you have exceeded that limit.
This chapter also will help you better understand the rules, regulations, and laws about consumer installment credit, designed to protect you, the consumer. In addition, this chapter will
help you decide when you may need a lawyer to handle your credit problems. (If you are married, see the "Family Law" chapter for topics regarding credit and marriage. "The Rights of Older Americans" chapter also contains credit-related discussions.)