"Around half the people that contact us actually have credit card debt of over $10,000," said the Victoria's Consumer Action Law centre's Chief Executive, Gerard Brody.  "Many have many thousands more than that in credit card debt and, in fact, we've worked out that at least one person a week that contacts our centre has credit card debt of more than $100,000." 

The biggest debt Alexandra Kelly has seen on a single card is $90,000, while clients with multiple cards can end up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"We have had cases of people who have accrued debts of $100,000 or $200,000 on multiple cards - that is the worst case scenario," she said.

Katherine Lane, principal solicitor at the Financial Rights Legal Centre, said she sees many people mired in credit card debt. She argues credit card terms can last decades and should be limited to three years, and borrowers should be required to pay off larger minimum amounts, including the minimum of the principle. But she said after 26 years of working in the financial services sector, she still couldn't understand why credit card interest rates stay so high.  "Personal loans are for five years, credit cards are for 30. Let's change that. Banks have made a fortune at amounts they shouldn't have got – a reasonable period is three years," she said

Below are two extracts from a speech in March 2006 by David Tennant, Chairperson, Australian Financial Counselling and Credit Reform Association at their Annual Conference in Qld: 

"Queensland is the host state and custodian of the national consumer credit regulatory regime. It is also the home base of some of the worst financial scams and unscrupulous market conduct in the country. Many of these scams spread south and west much faster than the cane toad has so far been able."

SMH article "Middle class hit by debt" notes that Tony Devlin, a senior Financial Counsellor at Salvation Army's "Moneycare" service, has assisted hundreds of level 1 and level 2 Australians who have incurred huge debts on multiple credit cards.  "There are far more middle-income earners seeking a way out of the desperate cycle of huge mortgage repayments and mounting credit card debt.........And people try to keep the ship afloat by using more credit cards." 

The Writer spoke to Tony Devlin on Wed 7 Dec '11.  Tony told him "It is not uncommon to meet people in financial trouble who had significant debts on between 6 and 10 credit cards." 

Debt Relief Australia spokesperson, Deborah Southon, says the typical family credit card debt is likely to be much higher than the $3321 average with many households juggling repayments on two or more cards.