Sanders discloses credit card debt

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has at least one thing in common with many Americans: credit card debt.

The Vermont independent, who's running for the Democratic presidential nomination, had a total of between $25,002 and $65,000 in revolving debt on his Visa cards last year, according to his latest financial disclosure report. The report also shows no stock in his name.

Congressional lawmakers are required to report their personal finances each year. The reports list assets and liabilities only in broad ranges.

Sanders' spokesman, Michael Briggs, said Sanders' credit card debt rises and falls with expenses, which included weddings for his daughter and niece in the past year. As of a few months ago, he said, the balance was down to zero again.

"He's a regular American who has credit card bills," Briggs said. "To that extent, he's living the life that a lot of people are living."

The average American had $5,327 in credit card debt during the fourth quarter of last year, according to credit bureau TransUnion's Industry Insights Report. Thirty-four percent of adults surveyed on behalf of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling in 2014 said their household carries credit card debt from month to month.

Such debt also isn't uncommon for members of Congress. In 2011, 76 members reported credit card debt above the reporting threshold of $10,000, according to a 2013 report by OpenSecrets.org.

Sanders' Visa balances have fluctuated in recent years. He has consistently reported loans, lines of credit or credit card balances as liabilities on most of his earlier financial disclosure reports.

Sanders has previously proposed legislation to cap credit card interest rates at 15 percent, accusing companies that charge more than 20 percent of engaging in "extortion and loan-sharking." Only 33 senators voted for the bill when it came up in 2009.

Briggs said Sanders' personal debt has no connection to his policies. Sanders' Visa cards, issued by the Congressional Federal Credit Union in 1991 and the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union in 2006, have rates of 8.5 percent and 10.25 percent, respectively.

Sanders' disclosure form, filed May 15, showed that his wife Jane's retirement plan and mutual funds were worth between $194,026 and $737,000 last year.

Briggs said Sanders, who earns a Senate salary of $174,000, participates in the Thrift Savings Plan, a defined contribution plan for civil service employees and retirees and members of the military. The only stock Sanders held outside the plan was IBM, but that was purchased so he could attend a shareholders' meeting in 2000 to oppose a pension plan change he thought was unfair to employees, Briggs said.

Sanders' report showed he received a pension of $4,894.20 from the city of Burlington, where he served as mayor.

He also reported receiving a total of $1,017.42 in 2013 from the publisher of his book, "The Speech," the text of a nearly nine-hour Senate floor speech Sanders delivered in 2010. He contributed those proceeds to Vermont's Addison County Parent-Child Center, which helps low-income families. His honorarium of $850 for appearing on Real Time on HBO went directly to the Northeast Kingdom Community Action senior centers in Vermont.

Those organizations are among the seniors, children's and environmental groups he has donated to over the years, Briggs said.

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Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com. Follow @ngaudiano.