Debts Hit America As Credit Card Debts Top $1T
Everywhere it is credit and through that the US expands its economy. That $1 trillion credit card debt is due to sales and purchases, and possibly would not have happened without the credit.
Americans pushed credit card balances above $1 trillion for the first time during the last quarter, the New York Federal Reserve said. Aggregate balances rose 4%, or $45 billion, to $1.03 trillion, as consumers juggled inflationary pressures with higher interest rates. Delinquent repayments of 30 days or more also rose, to 7.2% from 6.5% in the first quarter — the highest since 2012. Yet, economists at the Fed noted the new delinquency rate was close to the long-run normal and that there was “little evidence of widespread financial distress.” Car loans rose $20 billion to $1.58 trillion, exceeding student loan debt for the first time since 2009, the Fed report showed. Meanwhile, new Bank of America data, cited by CNN, shows a 36% increase in the second quarter of 2022 for those who made “hardship withdrawals” from their 401(k) accounts.