BillShrink Study Shows Americans Dumping Debt in 2010

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- BillShrink (www.billshrink.com), the independent, free online service that gives personalized savings recommendations on credit cards, reveals its latest survey showing that Americans are paying off more debt this year than last year. As the economy strengthens and the newly-enacted Credit CARD Act provides increased protections for consumer credit cards, Americans may feel emboldened to tackle their personal credit card debt.

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According to the Federal Reserve, Americans have dumped $101.2 billion in debt in the last 14 months, indicating a national movement toward personal debt reduction.

Consistent with this trend, BillShrink sampled more than 150,000 people looking for advice on credit cards over the last year to find that the amount of debt on personal credit cards is declining rapidly. In February 2009, just 46% of people noted that they paid off their credit card balance in full each month, compared with 59% this February.  

"The recession of 2009 was a wake-up call for many Americans who were spending beyond their means," said Peter Pham, CEO of BillShrink. "Now we're seeing people spend wisely and monitor their expenses carefully so that they can begin building a rainy day fund."

People are taking advantage of free online services like BillShrink's credit card recommendation service, which makes it easy to find the right card and rewards for each individual. BillShrink has found potential savings of more than a million Americans an average of $1500 in credit card savings, valuable dollars as Americans continue to pinch pennies.

About BillShrink (www.billshrink.com)

BillShrink is the free online money-saving service designed to help people lower their bills. Every day, thousands of people come onto the site and find an average of $1500 in savings on their most common bills.

In an era when eight in 10 Americans overpay for expenses like credit cards and wireless bills, BillShrink empowers and inspires people to become savvy shoppers by simplifying all the complex pricing structures to show what true cost of ownership means for their wallets. The company has found $1 billion in potential savings for Americans.

BillShrink is a decision-oriented site that helps users discover and determine the best money-saving options. After answering a few simple questions about spending and savings behavior, BillShrink users see savings recommendations tailored to their unique needs. The company tracks more than 10 million cell phone plan combinations, 300 bank rates, 240 credit cards and 150,000 gas stations, to present the best money-saving options available.  BillShrink then keeps the savings coming by alerting users when a better deal comes along.

BillShrink was named one of the "Best Money Websites" by MONEY Magazine and "Best Web Sites" by Kiplinger's and has been featured The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Consumer Reports , The Today Show, and more. The company publishes the popular "Shrinkage is Good" blog, which features commentary on the latest economic news and savings tips.

The Silicon Valley-based company was founded in 2007 by Schwark Satyavolu and Samir Kothari. For more information, please visit www.BillShrink.com. Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/BillShrink) and become a BillShrink fan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BillShrink).

Editor's Note:  BillShrink surveyed 162,000 users from February 2009 - February 2010. By answering 'Yes' or 'No' to the question "Do you pay off your credit card balance each month?," users were directed to credit cards that offered the lowest interest rate or the highest reward (cash back, airline, etc.) advantages. The pay off rate of total card balances increased 13% between February 2009 and February 2010.

SOURCE BillShrink