Credit cards are no longer a luxury, they are almost a necessity.  So, you could imagine a lot of people apply for credit cards.  In fact, a lot of people posses more than one credit card.  So, the credit card industry is growing by leaps and bounds.  However, the credit industry and credit card holders are posed with a big problem called "Credit Card Debt".  In order to understand what "Credit Card Debt" actually means, we need to understand the workflow associated with the use of credit cards as such.

Credit cards, as the name suggests, are cards on which you can get credit i.e. borrowing money (your credit card debt).  Your credit card is a representative of the credit account that you hold with the credit card supplier.  Whatever payments/purchases you make using your credit card are actually borrowings that contribute towards your credit card debt.

Your total credit card debt is the total amount you owe the credit card supplier.  You must settle your credit card debt on a monthly basis.  So, you receive a monthly statement or credit card bill which shows you your total credit card debt.  You must pay off your credit card debt by the payment due date.  Failing to pay the bill on time will incur you a late fee and additional interest charges.  However, you have an option of making a partial (minimum) payment too; in which case you don't incur a late fee, but the interest charges on the balance is added.  So your credit debt keeps increasing, more so because the interest on credit card debt are generally higher than the interest rates on other kind of loans.  Further, the interest charges add on to your credit debt amount.

If you continue making partial payments, the interest charges are calculated afresh on the new credit card debt.  So you end up paying interest on last month's interest too.  Thus your credit card debt accumulates rapidly and soon you find that what was once a relatively small credit card debt has ballooned into a big amount which you find almost impossible to pay.  Moreover, if you still don't control you spending habits, your credit card debt will rise even faster.  This is how the vicious cycle of credit card debt works.