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10 Mar, 2013

Credit card nation: Till debt do US apart by Chidanand Rajghatta – The Times Of India

There are nearly 200 million credit card holders in the United States, according to data from the Census Bureau, which means more than 60 per cent of the population is “plastic-ky” or “pla-sticky”. Then there are debit cards, prepaid cards, and other assorted synthetic instruments. The average American credit cardholder has 3.5 credit cards, with the number going up to six and more for those above the age of 60. Overall, the Bureau has determined that there are nearly 1.5 billion credit/debit cards in use in the US. A stack of all those cards would reach more than 70 miles into space.

Evidently, it is not enough to envelop the planet, but we might get there soon enough once India and China join the party, particularly if you count assorted idharudhar-aadhaar kinds of plastic that will come into existence in due course.

Read the rest: Credit card nation: Till debt do US apart by Ruminations : Chidanand Rajghatta’s blog-The Times Of India.