If they have $1k left in available credit, and they were making tech wages, that means on just that one credit card they are probably $9k to $24k at least in the negative already. The $1k of remaining available credit is not yet debt, but the negative bank balance is.
It is also likely they have more than one credit card, and maybe also some student loans.
As a european, I also didn't realize what CC stood for and was tripped up by the math same as the person you're replying to. Not everyone lives in a world/country where living on credit is the norm (at least not yet).
I have credit cards in Eastern Europe for 25 years, so CC is not a rare term. I also never lived on credit, I used it just for transactions during the month fully covered at the end of month with zero interest. I did that because security and refunds used to be better for credit vs debit cards (with CC, it was the bank's money, so they were more interested to solve problems). When condition equalized, I closed all CC.
I don’t think living on credit is the norm even in countries that use a credit card regularly. The limit on my card is fairly high, but if I don’t pay it off every month my provider gets pissy.
The $1,000 available on the CC is not debt either, so the person does not currently have -$1,800. If the information we have is that the person has an $800 overdraft and a $1,000 line of credit that they’re not using, they’re $800 in debt, not $1,800.
