American millennials have increased their credit debt to a record

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published data on consumer debt in the United States based on the results of the third quarter. Total debt, including mortgages, student loans, auto loans, consumer loans, credit card debt and others, rose 1.3% to $17.29 trillion. Mortgage loans increased by $126 billion to $12.24 trillion. Auto loan debt increased by $13 billion to $1.6 trillion, student loans increased by $30 billion to $1.6 trillion, and credit card debt increased by $48 billion (4.7%) in the last quarter to a record high of $1 .08 trillion

Analyzing the data obtained, experts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York especially note a significant increase in overdue debt on credit cards and car loans. “The growth rate of delinquencies on mortgage loans, which make up the majority of all consumer debt, remains below pre-pandemic levels,” the report notes. “However, the growth rate of delinquencies on auto loans and credit cards has exceeded pre-pandemic levels and continues to increase. And if the growth of overdue payments on car loans in recent quarters has been at a fairly moderate pace, the growth rate of overdue payments on cards has noticeably accelerated.”

Speaking about the reasons for this phenomenon, bank experts note that “in general, the increase in overdue payments on cards is approximately equal to all social groups and regions. But in terms of age groups, a sharp increase in late payments was observed among representatives of the millennial generation (born 1980-1994).” “While representatives of other generations—Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1979), and Zoomers (1995–2011)—have late payments on credit cards on average consistent with pre-pandemic levels, millennials have levels of late payments that have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. in the middle of last year, and is now 0.4% higher than in the third quarter of 2019,” notes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Read about the dangers of the level of debt load among Russians in the material “Shackled by Duty”.

Evgeny Khvostik