With prices rising nearly across the board, it’s getting harder to pay for basic necessities, causing some Americans to fall behind.
To that point, 32% of adults have paid a bill late in the past six months, according to a recent report by LendingTree — and 61% of them said it’s because they didn’t have the money on hand to cover the cost.
About 40% said they are less able to afford their bills compared with one year ago, the report found. Most said they fell behind on a utility bill, credit card payment or cable or internet bill.
“Life is getting more expensive by the day, and it’s shrinking Americans’ already tiny financial margin for error down to zero,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst.
“Unless they’ve been able to increase their income, millions of Americans have had to make sacrifices because of inflation to pay the bills,” he added.
Inflation hit a new high since 1981. What is inflation and what causes it?
What is inflation and what causes it?
There is no doubt persistent inflation has weighed on consumers, leaving more Americans living paycheck to paycheck.
The consumer price index, which measures the average change in prices for consumer goods and services, rose a higher-than-expected 8.3% in August, driven by increases in food, shelter and medical-care costs.
Although real average hourly earnings also climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, they remained down 2.8% from a year ago, leaving more households stretched thin.
