WisconsinChristianNews.com US Consumer Delinquency Rates Are Spiking Volume 24, Issue 9
Page 45
By Michael Snyder February 2024
monitoring in the months ahead, particularly with the amplified distress shown by borrowers in lower-income areas.”
last year and having already announced 30 in the first month of 2024 alone, there are no signs the trend will slow. A total of 139 scheduled bank branch closures were made public in January – more than the monthly average
According to the New York Fed, total house- hold debt in the United States increased by 212 billion dollars during the fourth quarter of 2023. It is now sitting at a grand total of 17.5 trillion
This is exactly what we would expect to see if the U.S. economy was plunging into a recession.
dollars. I suppose the good news is that we aren’t 34 trillion dol- lars in debt like the federal government is. But 17.5 trillion dol- lars is still really bad, and it is far more than U.S. households can handle. Unsurpris- ingly, delinquency rates have started to spike, and I fully ex- pect this trend to in- tensify in the months ahead. Let’s start by taking a look at credit card debt. During the
across 2023, accord- ing to their regulator.
The Federal Reserve is doing all that it can to try to prop up the system, but I still ex- pect another wave of bank failures in 2024. In this sort of an en- vironment, I think that it is wise to not have all of your eggs in one basket. We really are moving into wild and unpre- dictable times, and no financial institution is 100 percent safe.
fourth quarter, it hit a brand new all-time record high of 1.13 trillion dollars…
A lot more Americans are having trouble pay- ing their bills these days, and as the economy slows down throughout the rest of 2024 that is just going to make matters even worse. One of the reasons why Americans have been relying on their credit cards so much is because virtually everything has become so much more expensive.
If you have spread your assets around, that will help mitigate your risk.
Americans are increasingly turning to their credit cards to cover everyday expenses, with debt hitting a new record high at the end of De- cember, according to a New York Federal Re- serve report published February 6. In the three-month period from October to De- cember, total credit card debt surged to $1.13 trillion, an increase of $50 billion, or 4.6% from the previous quarter, according to the report. It marks the highest level on record in Fed data dating back to 2003 and the ninth consecutive annual increase. The average rate of interest on credit card bal- ances is now way above 20 percent, and so it has been very foolish of us to run up so much credit card debt.
Of course most Americans don’t actually need to spread their assets around because they hardly have any at all. According to one recent survey, 60 percent of all Americans have 500 dollars or less in their checking accounts. That means that most of us are living right on the edge of financial disaster, and we are collec- tively piling up more credit card debt with each passing day. The stage is set for the final meltdown of the U.S. consumer, and it will be truly horrifying to watch it play out.
At this point, even a trip to McDonald’s has become financially painful…
The CEO of McDonald’s admitted February 5 that the sales for the fast food giant have dipped amid increased menu prices that have not gone unnoticed by customers.
The Chicago-based chain has taken heavy crit- icism over its Big Mac combo that is priced at
And now millions of Americans are falling be- hind on their payments.
nearly $18, among other menu hikes, and has promised to focus on affordability, the New York Post re- ported. “I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earn- ings call with analysts.
Help Wanted At Christian-Owned Companies
In fact, it is being reported that credit card delinquencies “surged more than 50% in 2023”… Credit card delinquencies surged more than 50% in 2023 as total consumer debt swelled to $17.5 trillion, the New York Federal Reserve re- ported Tuesday. Debt that has transitioned into “serious delin- quency,” or 90 days or more past due, increased across multiple categories during the year, but none more so than credit cards. With a total of $1.13 trillion in debt, credit card debt that moved into serious delinquency amounted to 6.4% in the fourth quarter, a 59% jump from just over 4% at the end of 2022, the New York Fed reported. As delinquency rates rise, lenders will be forced to become more stingy, and that means that U.S. consumers will have less money to throw around.
Computer Technology Positions Please see the job posting details and apply on- line at: www.qpcsecurity.com/careers This is a 90% remote work position. Construction Generalist Please see the job posting details and apply online at: ConstructionCompany.com/careers
In 1996, you could get a Big Mac for just 99 cents.
Things sure have changed since then.
I never imagined that we would be reminiscing about the “good old days” of the 1990s, but here we are… I also miss the days when it seemed like there was a bank branch on just about every corner. Once upon a time it was so easy to set up a bank account that even a kid could do it. But now banks all over the nation have gotten into big financial trouble and they are shutting down branches at a staggering rate… Bank of America has emerged as a front-runner in the ongoing elimina- tion of costly brick-and-mortar banking locations in the US.
The New York Fed is also telling us that delin- quency rates on auto loans are surging too…
In the case of auto loans, delinquency rates are now above pre-pandemic levels “and the worsening appears to be broad-based,” New York Fed researchers wrote. “Loans opened during 2022 and 2023 are, so far, performing worse than loans opened in ear- lier years, perhaps because buyers during these years faced higher car prices and may have been pressed to borrow more, and at higher rates,” they wrote. Increased delinquency rates “merit
It said it would shut almost 160
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5