Well, since the doubters were out yesterday (just look at the comments below my last post) doubting the figures I reported on inflation, which isn’t in the picture in South Florida because we’ve been going through deflation for a year but some of you don’t believe it, well, let me roll out another set of numbers today that are interesting, but…..

These figures I wonder about.

In October, the average person who has a home equity line of credit in South Florida owes $71,372.

That’s just a large number.

Could people really owe that much? Before you answer, look at the average consumer’s other debts, according to Credit Karma, a web site that deals with credit. Credit Karma looked at 1,150 consumer credit reports from TransUnion, one of the three major credit bureaus, for South Floridians.

What it found looks like a mountain of debt. For South Florida, the average consumer has:

• $7,547 in credit card debt
• $71,372 in home equity
• $22,0478 in home mortgage loans
• $14,843 in auto loans
• $2,9260 in student loans

Grand total, with the home equity loan thrown in: $343,500

(The home equity figure isn’t an average for everyone. It’s the average for those who have home equity loans.)

That’s just a lot of money. It's more than the national average that Credit Karma found, which was $297,130.

The South Florida home mortgage debt is more than the national figure ($194,372), but not a lot more. The other figures are close.

It’s the home equity loans that stand out.

Why is the figure more than $70,000 for South Floridians and about $54,000 for the rest of the nation?