Most Americans are dying in debt - and on average owe tens of thousands of dollars, according to data released by credit company Experian.

It found that 73 per cent of the consumers that died during its testing period were in debt to some degree, and that on average they owed $61,554.

That's bad news for their relatives and heirs, who will most likely have to shoulder the bill, Credit.com reported.

Debt: Most Americans die owing cash, new data reveals - with credit cards and mortgages being the most common causes of debt

The company used its 220-million-strong consumer database to track which consumers died between October and December 2016.

It then looked at how many of those people had passed away, and what kinds of debt they had built up.

Of the $61,554 held by the average American, most of that was taken up by mortgage debt.

Strike that from the equation and the debt-laden deceased held an average of $12,875 when the passed away.

While the deceased are long past caring about their earthly possessions, debts can affect those who remain.

The good news is that, on the whole, family members do not become responsible for the debts of their recently passed relatives.

Creditors will take what they're owed out of the deceased person's assets, but if there isn't enough to cover the debt they'll usually have to take the loss.

But sometimes reclaiming what's needed to pay the debt can have knock-on effects for the family.

For example, if the deceased person owns a home, wholly or through mortgage, it must be used to satisfy the debt.

That can mean the family being forced to sell it off to pay the creditors, or it can mean them being made to take over the existing mortgage.

And if the deceased person co-owned an account then the person they were partnered with may find themselves having to take on the debt.

BIGGEST DEBTS According to credit company Experian, these are the most common types of debt among dead Americans: Credit cards - some 68 per cent of the dead debtors in Experian's database owed credit card debt - on average $4,531. Mortgages were the second most common form of debt at 37 per cent, although they made up the largest debt by amount - an average of $48,679 per person. Auto loans were held by 25 per cent of people, with them having $17,111 each on average Personal loans were held by 12 per cent of people, with an average of $14,793 Student loans only affected six per cent of dead people in the sample; they had an average of $25,391. Credit.com notes that federal student loans can be canceled on death but that's not true of some private loans Advertisement

Planning ahead can help; writing a will stops your state's officials from deciding how your assets will be divided up - which gives you greater control.

It also means that you avoid court costs that come with having others argue over how your estate should be divided up. Those costs are paid before creditors or beneficiaries get a look-in.

And life insurance can help by paying out a sum that can offset some or all of the cash owed to creditors, saving beneficiaries from losing out on property, possessions or money.

Despite the figures, Americans are pretty positive about how likely they are to die holding debt.

On Sunday, an audit from CreditCards.com said that 12 per cent of Americans believe that they will die in debt, according to MarketWatch.

Just four per cent of those under 30 thought they would die owing money. That went up to 11 per cent of those aged 30-49, 14 per cent of those in the 50-64 age bracket, and 28 per cent of those 65 and up.

Last year those figures were higher - with 21 per cent of Americans saying they wouldn't be able to pay off their debts, MarketWatch said.

According to the Census Bureau there were an estimated 242 million consumers in the US in 2015.