All eyes may be on the stock market, which is seeing volatility it hasn’t experienced in two years. But Americans’ kitchen table finances are also in a precarious place, with credit card balances reaching a new high.
The news comes from the New York Federal Reserve’s Report on Household Debt and Credit for the second quarter of 2024, which finds that credit card balances rose 2.4% to a record-high $1.14 trillion—a 48% increase since the first quarter of 2021. Delinquency rates for credit card debt and auto loans stabilized in the second quarter, but have also been increasing.
On a press call Tuesday, researchers from the Fed said while much debt held by U.S. consumers is overwhelmingly “high quality,” and consumers generally look to be in a good place, they are keeping an eye on the delinquency levels for credit card debt and auto debt, which could indicate coming trouble.
And it could be coming thanks to those rising debt levels. In a reverse from the pandemic era, in which many households were able to pay down their balances, Americans are now piling on debt amid high inflation and high interest rates, as well as booming consumer spending on services and experiences.
“More people are carrying more debt for longer periods of time,” says Bankrate’s Ted Rossman, noting that a recent survey from the personal finance site finds half of credit cardholders carry debt from month to month, the highest percentage since March 2020, and 60% of them have had credit card debt for at least a year.
Fed researchers pointed to the 30-to-39-year-old age group as a potential problem spot. This cohort has a much higher likelihood than other age groups of falling into serious delinquency for credit cards, compared to the pre-pandemic era.
The Fed’s report doesn’t go into the reasons for this trend, but researchers highlighted a few possibilities on the press call. This cohort of consumers were younger when the pandemic first hit, and may have overextended during that time. They were also the cohort that entered the labor market during the Great Recession, and are still carrying those scars.
And they could be newer borrowers, who typically have higher delinquency levels. And younger consumers are more likely to be renters, meaning they likely saw their rents rise in the past few years, putting more strain on their finances.
The news comes at a tenuous time for the U.S. economy, with the Federal Reserve almost certain to cut interest rates following a stock market selloff and a worse-than-expected jobs report last week.