Credit Card Debt in Louisiana

If you live in Louisiana and are in credit card debt you are like many, many residents in the state.  Louisiana has been hit by an economic double whammy over the last several years between Katrina and the current economic recession.  Many people have been laid off from their jobs for a variety of reasons. Regardless of the reason, this has led many to deplete their savings to the point of having to rely on their credit cards for daily living expenses such as groceries or mortgage payments.  This can quickly lead to a mountain of credit card debt very quickly.  Once you get into debt interest rates on all your cards can rise quickly even if you only one payment.

Residents of Louisiana carry an average of $6042.30 in revolving credit card debt with an average annual percentage rates of 15.19% on average.  This high amount of debt coupled with a high interest rate can make debt reduction next to impossible. It is not impossible to reduce your debt, but it can be difficult unless you're educated about how to effectively negotiate with credit card companies and reduce your debt optimally. Our credit card payment optimizer can help you to determine which cards to pay off first, second, third, etc... in order to pay back all of your debt in the shortest amount of time at the lowest total cost.

Regardless of if you live in a metropolitan area in Louisiana such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Metairie or a rural area in the state, our educational and informational resources can help you formulate a plan to reduce your debt quickly.  While the economic environments in these areas may be different, the rules for paying down debt will not differ.  First and foremost you need to become educated. If the terms and definitions in your credit card contracts don't make much sense, try reading through our glossaries carefully. This is an excellent way to start gaining control. If you know what the lenders are talking about it is much easier to make decisions about which cards to use, which cards to accept, which ones to pay off first, and which ones to avoid alltogether.

The average credit, or FICO, score in the State of Louisiana is 663.  This is a solid score on the FICO scale, which ranges from 300 to 850, with higher scores indicating lower risk for all lenders.  While some lenders will base their lending decisions on more than just your score, many companies, such as credit card companies will use this score alone to determine if you are an acceptable applicant and, if you are, what your interest rate should be.  The average national credit score as measured by the Credit Bureau Experian is 693. The average score does differ by age group with older people generally having higher scores than younger people.This is largely due to length and stability of credit history that people accumulate over their lifetimes.

People in Louisiana and the other West South Central States, such as Texas and Oklahoma, carrie balances that account for approximately 40% of their total available credit.  This is an important factor in credit scoring, the more of your available credit that you use, the lower your score will be. The West South Central segment of states has the second highest averaged credit usage in the United States, lower only than the Mountain States.

Residents of your geographic region on average have nearly $700.00 in minimum credit card payments each month and have three open cards at any given time. If you have $700.00 in minimum payments and you are missing payments, it is time to take action.  Read our advocacy articles to figure out if you have other options or the calculators to determine if there is a better way to pay down your debt faster.

Lastly, the Louisiana and it's neighbor states have the highest level on average of late payments on their credit reports. Residents average 2 late payments recorded on their bureau reports.  Late payments are a key indicator of credit worthiness and can drop credit scores quickly if there are too many of them.

Our site can help you organize your plan and avoid pit falls others have encountered when trying to get help with or reduce their debt.  This site was created to help people avoid these missteps and to take advantage of the aggregate knowledge others have gained trying to live a debt free life.

Always remember also that your elected representatives are there to help and listen to you. The major credit card reform bill that congress just passed is due in large part to consumer complaints and communication with their congressman. Make sure you let them know if you feel a company is acting unethically.

Contact Elected Officials About Credit Card Reform
	Senator Mary Landrieu PHONE: 202-224-5824 (DC office) FAX: 202-224-9735 (DC office)		Senator David Vitter PHONE: 202-224-4623 (DC office) FAX: 202-228-5061 (DC office)