American consumerism and inability to live within means has reached more than $1 trillion in credit card debt.
For the first time, as reported by LinkedIn, in the last quarter, Americans swiped their plastic enough to accrue a record total of debt.
With inflation and gas prices on the rise, as well as housing costs, credit card balances rose 4 percent or $45 billion to a total of $1.03 trillion. Delinquent payments of 30 days or more also increased to 7.2 percent from 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023: the highest increase since 2012.
However, federal economists insist the delinquency rate is more like the American normal and that “little evidence of widespread financial distress” exists.
American debt on vehicles also rose $20 billion to $1.58 trillion, which, for the first time since 2009, exceeds student loan debt.
Bank of America, however, has data that a 36 percent increase in the second quarter was for “hardship withdrawals” from 401k accounts.
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Rebecca Barnabi
