Financial Wellness Freak-Out: Many Fear Debt More than COVID

401k, retirement, debt , financial wellness

Image credit: © Paulus Rusyanto | Dreamstime.com

When nearly 40% of Americans fear credit card debt more than the coronavirus, it might be a problem.

Signaling just how stressed Americans are over the amount of consumer debt, not even a global pandemic can knock the heavy burden debt causes off its prominent perch.

With the COVID-19 edition of Halloween just days away and consumers still expected to spend roughly $8 billion on the occasion, the personal-finance website WalletHub announced the results of its national Halloween Spending & Financial Fears Survey, along with its picks for 2020’s Worst Credit Cards to highlight scary offers that people should avoid this holiday season.

“Almost 40% of Americans are more scared of credit card debt than the coronavirus in part because of political allegiances, but also due to the fact that credit card debt might seem more tangible to an indebted individual who has yet to know someone with COVID-19,” Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst, said in a statement. “Current events aside, money was the number one stressor for Americans for many years before the coronavirus pandemic, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that credit card debt and money problems in general still scare a lot of us, maybe even more so than before.”

Highlights (or lowlights) of this year’s survey include:

Financial ‘horror show’

“The nearly 1 in 3 people who say their finances are a horror show apply that label for a variety of reasons, which obviously include the pandemic’s impact on the economy, along with debt levels that are still very high despite showing improvement in recent months,” Gonzalez added. “It’s tough to say your finances are looking good when you’re out of work or waiting for business to pick back up. You can’t ignore the possibility that some people are just being dramatic when saying their finances are a horror show, either.”

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