Trapped in debt Americans' credit card debt surpasses $1 trillion An increasing number of cardholders are carrying more credit card debt than before in the United States, and it is likely keep growing, according to U.S. analysts.
With balances surpassing $1 trillion for the first time, Americans' credit card debt has reached a new milestone in the second quarter, according to data released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
From April to June, credit card balances shot up by $45 billion, nearly 4.6 percent, from $986 billion in the preceding three-month period.
About 69 percent of U.S. adults had a credit card account in the second quarter of 2023, compared with 65 percent in December 2019, data from the New York Fed showed.
Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst of online lending marketplace LendingTree, told The Washington Post that the $1 trillion mark is staggering and is likely going to keep growing from here.
The rise in credit card debt reflects several factors, including high living costs and rising consumer confidence amid cooling inflation. But there could be more difficult days ahead for some borrowers in a high-interest rate environment.
Federal student loan borrowers have not been required to repay their debt since 2020. The payment pause will resume in October, and the resumption of student loan payments will be a huge test for many cardholders.
Rising credit card debt and auto loan balances helped to drive overall household debt levels up 1 percent, to
