Americans Are Sinking Under Credit Card Debt
Consumers will continue to rely on credit cards, keeping balances high and be enslaved by debt that carries interest rates of 20 percent or more
Americans now have a record $1.21-trillion balance on their credit cards, according to the new quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
U.S. shoppers loaded another $45 billion onto their plastic in last year’s fourth quarter, due in large measure to holiday spending, and growing the total by 7.3 percent more than a year before.
Over the past year, 7.18 percent of card accounts fell at least 30 days behind in payments, the bank noted. That indicates “borrowers are having some difficulty repaying,” the bank’s research group said in a press briefing.
The proportion of auto and credit card accounts at least 90 days late in paying has climbed to a 14-year high, dating back to 2009 during the Great Recession, according to the bank’s data.
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