The April 21-24 Deseret News/KSL-TV poll also found that half of the 404 adults surveyed said they had no credit-card debt — a number mirroring national figures from the Federal Reserve. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percent.

About a tenth of the Utahns surveyed in the poll said they have racked up more than $5,000 in credit-card debt, with 6 percent owing more than $10,000. One in every six adults said they owe under $1,000, and one in five owe between $1,000 and $5,000.

Holcomb thinks the numbers are way too rosy. "You go into Wal-Mart, and they're all using cards," she said. "Please!"

Educational programs have been created to help people learn to better manage their credit-card debt. Utah Saves — an initiative of United Way in partnership with Utah State University Extension, AAA and other employers and state agencies — is a social marketing campaign to "raise the profile and peer pressure," as Crim puts it, to help people improve their financial security.

The program is free, and professionals host workshops, give planning consultation with a wealth coach and teach you how to pay off debt, spend less and find deals or invest. Sign up at utahsaves.org.

Holcomb praises financial adviser Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. People enrolled in the program, often offered through local churches, including Christ United Methodist Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, average paying off $5,300 in debt and adding $2,700 to savings, Zions Bank reports.

Such programs are helping to change the cultural expectation of spending money, Crim said. He puts it that way, because people know they're supposed to be saving, and say it's important to save for retirement, but then say it's hard, maybe too hard, to do. With the economic downturn, it really may be impossible for some people to put away savings when they're having such a hard time just getting by. Cunningham said some people are charging even the basics, and she fears the problem may be getting worse. With the Fed reporting a rise in nonrevolving credit balances, she wonders if people are taking out loans to make ends meet.

Crim agreed that the credit-card debt incurred by consumers might not all be gratuitous.

"Some people would look at the credit crisis and mortgage crisis and look at that as the collective impact of lots of people taking or making risky loans, overextending themselves and just not being smart about how we use money," Crim said. "There's a lot of data that suggests people who are living on the edge often are using credit cards to survive the gap between their income and rising costs for food, for housing, for energy, for gas."