Posted by Merry Richter :: June 15, 2007 @ 11:49 am

Earlier this week, LendingTree released the results of its first annual LendingTree Smart Borrower Survey, which seeks to help improve people’s borrowing decisions and behavior. The survey, which was conducted by MarketWise, Inc., maintains that nearly half of Americans are concerned about their outstanding credit card debt.

Among the survey’s key findings:

• 85% of the respondents have debt outstanding. The most common forms of debt are credit cards (63%), mortgages (52%), and automobile loans (37%).
• 47% of the respondents spend about half or more of their gross income on their total debt expense.
• 30% of respondents who carry a balance have credit card debt of $10,000 or more outstanding.

If these findings aren’t troubling enough, there’s more. According to the survey, a significant number of respondents have experienced some of the negative sides of credit cards we’ve mentioned in previous posts.

Apparently 35% of surveyed online consumers have been surprised by unexpected charges and fees associated with their credit cards, including: teaser rates (14%), over-limit charges (12%), annual fees (11%), finance charges (9%), and fees for ATM (9%). For more details on this, we recommend scanning through the GAO study.

It’s time to leave your credit cards behind, once and for all!