The latest debt numbers have some interesting tidbits of information about consumer debt. The information from this article originally appeared in an article (link) at minyanville.com http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/consumer-credit-december-consumer-credit-us/2/9/2012/id/39304

First the good news:

“Revolving credit balances (principally credit cards) rose $19.6 billion for the month (almost 60% of the total).  As noted late last year, credit card usage was up significantly this Christmas versus 2010.”

That is good news? It sounds like bad news, right? Well it would be bad news except…..

“But I’d note that based on the weekly data from the Federal Reserve, the entire balance growth from December 2011 has already repaid by January 25. So while consumers used their cards more, it looks to me like they were quick to pay it back.”

That is highly unusual. The day we start fixing the debt problem is the day that the consumer starts to hate debt so much that they are paying it off. –Good News

Now for the bad news…

“For December 2011, $8.8 billion of the $33.1 billion total increase in consumer credit (27%) came from student loan borrowing; and for the year student lending overall was up more than 34% from December 2010.”

Last year student loan debt increased by over 100 billion dollars. This year we are going to eclipse 1 trillion dollars. Yes, you are looking at the next major debt bubble right before your eyes. This can’t end in a good way.

General rule on student loan debt – don’t borrow it just because you can and don’t borrow it because you think you are suppose to go to college for the sake of going to college. The bottom line is that you need a good game plan and a reason to go to college more so than to live the college experience. It is an expensive experience.