Nearly 75% of US Consumers Are in Debt When They Die

And the average debt at death is nearly $62K

By Michael Harthorne, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2017 11:57 AM CDT

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Nearly 75% of US Consumers Are in Debt When They Die — Nearly three-quarters of American consumers are dying in debt. (Getty Images/davidford)

Millions of Americans are escaping debt—through the sweet release of death. Credit.com reports 73% of American consumers were in debt when they died. The average amount of debt held at the time of death was $61,554 (though it was only $12,875 when mortgage debt was removed). Outside of home loans, the highest average debt at death was student loans, with an average outstanding balance of $25,391. Here are the most common types of debt at death:

Credit cards: 68%
Mortgage loans: 37%
Auto loans: 25%
Personal loans: 12%
Student loans: 6%

The data comes from 220 million US consumers and looks specifically at those who died sometime between October and December 2016. (More debt stories.)

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