After making progress in paring down balances during the pandemic, it seems U.S. consumers are back to bad habits when it comes to credit card debt. A recent study shows Americans added an all-time record $180 billion in new debt during 2022, with a more than $85 billion increase in the fourth quarter alone. That’s the biggest quarterly increase ever. Jill Gonzalez is an analyst with the personal finance website WalletHub.
She says that rising debt can pose more problems than consumers realize, since that amount is approaching the unsustainable numbers seen in the Great Recession of 2008.
In addition, as a result of the recent rate hike by the Federal Reserve, that debt will now cost more. Gonzalez urges consumers to start tackling their credit card debt now.
