Nearly 60% of U.S. adults entered the coronavirus outbreak with credit card debt, according to a recent study from CreditCards.com. Ted Rossman, CreditCards.com Industry Analyst, joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss how Americans are managing their personal finances as social distancing guidelines have been extended through April.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: What is the actual economic standing right now of the US consumer? Of course, before all this happened, we were highlighting how that had been the strong point for the economy heading into the crisis regarding coronavirus. But when you look at it, there are questions now being raised about how much debt US consumers had, specifically credit card debt.

And a new report from creditcards.com was highlighting the fact that about 59% of credit card holders, or about 110 million US adults, entered the outbreak with credit card debt when you look into it. And we want to bring out our next guest, who has more details behind that. Ted Rossman, CreditCards.com Industry Analysts, joins us now on the Hangout.

And Ted, when you look at that, I mean, put that number in context for our viewers out there. 59%, or about 110 million Americans with credit card debt heading into it-- what does that say about how able they might be able to withstand short-term uncertainty or potentially getting furloughed or laid off as well?

TED ROSSMAN: The biggest issue for me, Zack, is how persistent this has been. So most of those debtors-- 56%-- have been in credit card debt for at least a year, 37% for at least two years. And this is amidst a climate that had been a decadelong economic expansion, the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. Now, all that's changing dramatically. I think, unfortunately, it's going to be that much harder to get out of debt.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and when you look at it, too, on generational divide-- we talked about that all the time-- millennials mostly the kind of age group that we've talked about being saddled by not just credit card debt potentially but also student debt as well. And I know there's been a little bit of-- the relief package is meant to address this federal student aid here in the short term. But when you look at it on an age breakdown, is there anything specifically that jumps out at you when we talk about credit card debt specifically?

TED ROSSMAN: People in their 20s, 30s, and 40s have a lot more credit card debt than older adults. About 2/3 of millennials and Gen Xers are carrying credit card debt. It's a little over half of baby boomers. My best advice here-- if you're struggling with credit card debt, especially if you've lost your job or had a cut in your income, speak up.

Notify your card issuer. Ask for help on the front end. See if they can rearrange your payment date, ideally without adding additional interest. See if they can cut you a break on some other fees. I would normally suggest balance transfers, and those are still out there. But lending standards have gotten a lot tighter. So the ability to apply for one of these new cards and get approved-- it's a lot harder now than it was even a few weeks ago.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and we've been hearing the same thing on the mortgage front as well, in terms of getting out ahead of this. Try and ask. Raise your hand and say that you're dealing with some of these things-- always better to get ahead of the game rather than behind the curve. But Ted Rossman at CreditCards.com, thank you so much for breaking all that down-- appreciate it.