Report: Fall River ranks poorly nationwide when it comes to paying down credit card debt

U.S. consumers were on track for a record year for debt repayment before the coronavirus pandemic, according to today’s 2020 Credit Card Debt Study from the personal-finance website WalletHub. The study found that consumers paid off a record $60 billion of their roughly $1 trillion in credit card debt during the first quarter of 2020.

With unemployment now at record highs, however, WalletHub projects that U.S. consumers will rack up more than $140 billion throughout the rest of 2020, ending the year with a net increase of $80 billion in credit card debt.

The debt picture is worrisome nationwide, but some areas have bigger payment problems than others. WalletHub compared more than 2,500 cities based on how much residents owe to credit card companies – specifically, how those balances changed in Q1.

According to the WalletHub report, Fall River ranked poorly in credit card paydown as the city is in the 4% of the country with the smallest paydown and that was before the majority of the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Credit Card Debt in Fall River
Credit Card Debt ($317,846,280)
Paydown ($20,387,345)
Household Credit Card Debt ($8,222)
Household Paydown ($527)

New Bedford fared even worse as they were in the the lower 1% in the country with a household paydown of $474.

To see the full report, click here.