Ohioans doing better than other states in not adding personal debt

Ohio is doing better than most states when it comes to not adding more debt.

The personal finance website WalletHub released its States Where Consumers Are Adding the Most Debt report on Tuesday and Ohio ranked 47th in the report.

Here’s how Ohio ranked in the following categories

• Credit card debt: The average credit card balance in Ohio increased by 5.10% from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023, and reached $5,881.
• Auto loan debt: The average auto loan balance in Ohio increased by 0.18% from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023, and reached $23,368.
• Personal loan debt: The average personal loan balance in Ohio decreased by 0.60% from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023, and reached $9,668.

Debt is still an issue in the U.S., as the report indicated $2.7 trillion is owed by Americans on their auto loans and credit cards alone.

“At a time when interest rates are very high, it’s especially important to minimize the accumulation of debt,” Wallethub Editor John Kiernan said. “Americans have added a staggering amount of new debt in the past decade, and it can be very easy for that debt to become unsustainable, leading to future issues like default and major credit score damage.”