Chicago, IL -- (SBWire) -- 01/15/2013 --In the year 2012, US citizens have taken up to $11.38 trillion consumer debt which has decreased by 2.95% from the previous year, 2011. Consumer debts are outstanding debts of consumers that result from purchasing goods.

American citizens have taken up loans for multiple purposes. In the year 2012, $8.15 trillion have been taken for mortgages, $914 billion have been used in student loans which show an increase by 7.35 % from the previous year, $852 billion is used up in credit card debt and $72 billion have been utilized in auto loans.

On an average, a US household has taken up $149,782 for mortgage debt, $34,703 for student loan and $15,328 for credit card debt. The states that have the highest rate of consumer debt according to a survey suggests that the top 10 states rank with Alaska at the top of the list and Washington ranking at the lowest level.

The survey concluded that about 25% of US citizens own more credit card debt than they have saved for emergency situations. On another note, about 54% of Americans have saved more for emergency periods than compared to credit card debt.

On an average there are about 37 million student loan borrowers that haven’t repaid till now. One in every 5 US families has at least a single member that indebted to banks.

The survey held for the year 2012 also proposed that about 70% accounts for mortgage debts are at their lowest level since the year 2006. About 9% of the prevailing debt was taken due to some form of delinquency and the rate of non- mortgage consumer debt has increased by 2.2% that is more than that of the previous year.

Some of the ways to reduce consumer debts by economists are as follows:

- Make a list of all the outstanding debts
- Followed up by a budget maintained on a monthly level
- The amount of spending needs to be noted
- The budget that has been worked upon, needs to be followed religiously
- If the spending exceeds over the budget that is decided upon, then review the budget made
- After careful spending, save some amount on a regular basis and start paying the debts
- Any extra savings made, should be used to pay the debts

For more information or to view the Consumer Debt Statistics for the year 2012, interested folks may visit www.thecreditexaminer.com

Media Contact:
Rabby Deep, Writer
TheCreditExaminer.com
29 S LaSalle St
Chicago, IL 60603