That $6K is the average balance carried forward from one month to the next month (AKA revolving balance), not the balance paid in full [1], so actually its as insane as the parent thought, especially of the median is much higher.
They clarify in paragraph below that the data is from the credit bureaus which incorrectly factor in balances that will get paid off. You have up to 60 days to pay off your credit card debt before it starts accruing interest. It is a debt and counted towards the consumers debt levels even though the consumer could be paying off the debt every cycle. If you use credit card and pay off the card every cycle, you’ll have a revolving debt and you can easily see with credit karma or similar service.
That is average debt for those who have revolving credit card debt. I assume this means if 10 people have credit cards, 9 pay them monthly and don’t accrue interest, but 1 person doesn’t pay and owes $6k, then the average balance carried forward is $6k.
I guess I should add to my original comment that not only are median and mean of interest accruing debt relevant, but what portion of credit card users even have an interest accruing balance.
1. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/average-credit-card-debt-hou...