I think this is one of the reasons it is hard to interpret this data. You view it as effectively not being able to cover it, but I (and possibly a lot of people responding to the survey) view it as a normal mode of operation to put something on a card and pay it off when it is due (and thus pay zero interest).
I keep an emergency fund that is in the tens of thousands of dollars, yet I would cover a $400 emergency in this way - put it on a card and pay it off when due, pulling the cash out of my emergency fund to make the payment. The way the responses are worded makes it hard to get too much meaning out of it.
I keep an emergency fund that is in the tens of thousands of dollars, yet I would cover a $400 emergency in this way - put it on a card and pay it off when due, pulling the cash out of my emergency fund to make the payment. The way the responses are worded makes it hard to get too much meaning out of it.