Survey indicated 48% using CC for essentials
And balances over $10K on average
New York Fed survey for December found that the average perceived probability for missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months stood at 14.2%, tied with September for the highest since April 2020
When ivory towers fail to realize the ‘spending’ is due to inflation, not the perceived strength of the consumer.
Wow! pedojoe really handed President Trump the “best economy in the world”.™
Maybe it’s a good time to be looking at foreclosures in the real estate market again.
I know I’ve changed some habits due to inflation, and I have high income and no debts. I totally believe plenty of folks are going month to month on CCs and are one missed paycheck away from bankrupt
Only now do the legacy media outlets notice the problems in the economy.
Must be Trump’s fault, right? /s
I can see that. In our financial small group I often hear about people using CC's for normal spending and paying it off every month. I tell them that's fine, as long as they don't spend more because it's on a CC than they would if it was cash. (It's not enough to just pay off the CC every month. Make a budget and make sure you don't spend past your budget if you have other long term financial goals that extra money should go to.)
And balances over $10K on average
What in tarnation? That makes less sense than a Muslim marrying a grown woman.
So with many (most?) cards now heading towards 30% interest rates, why has no one at the CFPB actually started protecting consumers?
While we should have no debt, in real life bumping interest rates from 14% to 30% is just a killer for most families.
And checking account interest rates hover at 0.25% ...
Forgiving student loans freed up so much income that they can pay down their credit card balances.....no, wait.....
22% are using their credit cards for essentials and making only minimum payments at average 21% interest. Figure that interest rate into the cost of living and the inflation number looks way worse. This has been building steadily since 2021. The media obdurately refuses to acknowledge how much trouble we are in, preferring to spew whatever narrative the government feeds them.
Turmp’s in office, so it’s ok to admit the economy is in the crapper.
I know about ten people in my neighborhood who have charged up the maximum on credit cards and defaulted and/or filed for bankruptcy. Free money is all it is to them and then pay an attorney $2k to get it discharged in court.
Scarier still is the number of retired people on pensions who are in credit card debt. Read one report that said the average retiree owes $12k on credit cards.
I surveyed my friends and to a one they all had large balances on their credit cards, one $12k. I was really shocked (but maybe shouldn’t have been).
I paid the last credit card off in 1999 and never looked back.
It was more than twenty years ago that I bought some gas at my local convenience store and saw a fella come in and buy 20 dollars worth of lottery tickets and charge them on his credit card.
And I thought banks allow charges for the decriminalized numbers racket?
I don’t live in an area with a thriving economy, yet I was taken back that a new non national coffee drive thru opened not half a block from a Dunkin Donuts and not two blocks from two different Starbucks.
The place seems to always have five or six cars in line.
Five dollars or more a cup for joe is beyond my comprehension.
As is five dollars for a dozen eggs.
No big deal I guess if the printing presses keep printing money and Steve Martin and Martin Short do these commercials where they pimp the illusion that running up charges on your credit card is somehow beneficial.