While many Americans have downsized their credit card debt during the Great Recession, consumer debt still remains a problem. The average American consumer owed about $4,200 on credit card balances at the end of 2010. The good news is that this represents a slight decline over 2009 amounts - the average credit card debt owed in 2009 was over $4,400. The numbers come from a report by Experian, a national credit reporting agency. Experian examined bank credit card balances to come up with its number. The report does not include retail credit card debt on cards issued by stores and other retailers that can only be used in the store that issued the credit card.

Any decline in consumer debt is good news, but another trend is also emerging: the consolidation of credit cards. Instead of carrying four, five or more credit cards, many consumers now only carry one or two cards with higher balances. Experts believe that many consumers have had credit limits decreased by their credit issuers, and some consumers have been forced to close some of the credit cards they carried.

This consolidation of credit cards can be detrimental to credit reports, though. Credit reporting agencies typically look not only at the number of credit cards and the amounts of credit limits, but at the percentage of credit being used on each credit card. If a credit card holder is keeping a high balance on one credit card - typically, anything over 30 percent of the credit limit is considered a high balance - the credit holder may be dinged on his or her credit report.

Credit Card Balances are Well Above Average in Some Florida Cities

Drilling down into the credit card balance numbers, CNN Money.com reports that four Florida cities made the top 25 in the nation for most credit card debt. Jacksonville, Florida, ranked second nationally in credit card debt. The average Jacksonville consumer carried a balance of $5,115. No other Florida city made the top 10, but Tallahassee came in at number 14 with an average balance of $4,605. Rounding out the top 25 were Miami at number 23 with an average credit card balance of $4,555 and Orlando at number 25 with average credit card debt at $4,525.

Source: CNN Money.com "Cities with the most credit card debt" Blake Ellis 3/4/2011