Contact us
CALL US NOW 1-888-GOLD-160
(1-888-465-3160)

Record Consumer Debt Levels Continue to Climb

  by    0   1

Consumers continue to add to their record level of debt as higher prices squeeze wallets.

Americans added another $40.1 billion to the debt load in June, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. That represents a 10.5% year-on-year increase.

The surge in debt significantly beat the $27 billion expectation.

Americans now owe a record $4.627 trillion in consumer debt. The Federal Reserve consumer debt figures include credit card debt, student loans, and auto loans, but do not factor in mortgage debt. When you include mortgages, US consumers are buried under more than $16.2 trillion in debt.

Americans are burning up plastic in order to make ends meet. Revolving credit, primarily reflecting credit card debt, rose by another $14.8 billion in June, a sizzling 16% y-o-y increase. To put that into perspective, the annual increase in 2019, prior to the pandemic was 3.6%. It’s pretty clear that with stimulus money long gone, Americans have turned to plastic in order to make ends meet as prices continue to skyrocket.

Revolving debt now stands at $1.125 trillion — above the pre-pandemic record.

Americans, by and large, kept their credit cards in their wallets and paid down balances at the height of the pandemic in 2020. This is typical consumer behavior during an economic downturn and the trend was even more pronounced with pandemic stimulus checks. Credit card balances were over $1 trillion when the pandemic began. They fell below that level in 2020 with an 11.2% drop. We saw small upticks in credit card balances in February and March of last year as the recovery began, with a sharp drop in April as another round of stimulus checks rolled out. But Americans started borrowing in earnest again in May 2021. Since then, we’ve seen a steady increase in consumer debt with a huge surge in borrowing in March and April.

Not only are credit card balances growing; consumers are trying to find ways to borrow even more. According to Fed data, Americans opened 233 million new credit card accounts in the second quarter of this year. That was the largest number of new accounts opened in a single quarter since 2008 – the beginning of the Great Recession.

Aggregate limits on credit card accounts increased by $100 billion in Q2 and now stand at $4.22 trillion. That reflects the largest increase in more than 10 years.

Rising interest rates are bad news for Americans depending on credit to pay their bills. With interest rates rising, Americans are paying more in interest charges every month, and many will see minimum payments rise. Average annual percentage rates (APR) currently stand at just over 17.42%. That’s up from 16.6% just two months ago. Analysts say they may well rise above 18% by the end of the year, breaking the record high of 17.87% set in April 2019. With every Federal Reserve interest rate increase, the cost of borrowing will go up, putting a further squeeze on American consumers.

Non-revolving credit also surged in June, increasing by $25.4 billion, an 8.8% year-on-year jump. This includes auto loans and student loans. Total non-revolving credit now stands at $3.502 trillion.

Auto loan balances increased by $33 billion to $199 billion in Q2. This primarily reflected higher origination amounts per loan rather than a greater volume of loans. In other words, Americans aren’t buying more cars, but they are paying more for the cars they’re buying.

The mainstream continues to insist that this rapid runup in debt is a sign of a “strong” economy. MarketWatch reported, “How much credit households use is seen as a good window into the strength of the economy. Consumers tend to borrow more when times are good and cut back when the economy is weak.” Meanwhile. Fed chair Jerome Powell keeps telling us that “households are in very strong financial shape.”

But this narrative doesn’t account for the fact that the price of everything has gone up substantially in the last year. It seems far more likely that Americans have turned to borrowing because they don’t have any other way to make ends meet. People don’t use Visa to buy groceries when they are in “very strong” financial shape.

Wages have not kept up with rising prices. While average hourly earnings are up 5.1% on the year, real earnings factoring in the CPI have dropped by over 4%. The stimulus checks are long gone. Savings are being depleted. The average person has no choice but to pull out the plastic. Of course, this is not a sustainable trajectory. A credit card has this inconvenient thing called a limit.

Student Loan Bubble Free Report

Get Peter Schiff’s key gold headlines in your inbox every week – click here – for a free subscription to his exclusive weekly email updates.
Interested in learning how to buy gold and buy silver?
Call 1-888-GOLD-160 and speak with a Precious Metals Specialist today!

Related Posts

Gold Hits New All-Time Record High

Gold hit a new all-time nominal high, surpassing the previous record set in December of the previous year. The precious metal’s price reached approximately $2,140, indicating a robust and continuing interest in gold as a safe-haven asset, despite a rather peculiar lack of fanfare from the media and retail investors. This latest peak in gold […]

READ MORE →

Is a Weak Yen Feeding the Global Gold Bull?

The gold price has been surging, with unprecedented central bank demand gobbling up supply. It has been a force to behold — especially as US monetary policy has been relatively tight since 2022, and 10-year Treasury yields have rocketed up, which generally puts firm downward pressure on gold against USD. 

READ MORE →

World Gold Council: “Blistering Central Bank Buying” Fuels Strong Gold Demand

Total gold demand hit an all-time high in 2023, according to a recent report released by the World Gold Council. Last week, the World Gold Council (WGC) released its Gold Demand Trends report, which tracks developments in the demand for and use of gold around the world. Excluding over-the-counter (OTC) trade, 2023 gold demand fell slightly from 2022 […]

READ MORE →

VIX – The Calm Before the Storm

The VIX, often referred to as ‘Wall Street’s fear gauge,‘ is currently portraying a sense of calm among investors, registering well below the 20 level. 

READ MORE →

Four States Consider Lifting Taxes on Precious Metals

Citizens of Georgia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Kansas may soon enjoy lower taxes on precious metals if recently introduced pro-metal bills are made law in 2024.

READ MORE →

About The Author

Michael Maharrey is the managing editor of the SchiffGold blog, and the host of the Friday Gold Wrap Podcast and It's Your Dime interview series.
View all posts by

Comments are closed.

Call Now