Democrats Deliver Bad News For U.S. Households
Families are drowning in debt already thanks to President Biden.
A report published by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday revealed that Americans accumulated more debt at the start of 2023. Additionally, the report indicated that an increasing number of households were struggling to make payments on various types of loans.
According to Fox, during the first quarter of 2023, household debt in the United States climbed to a new all-time high of $17.05 million, reflecting a rise of $148 billion, or 0.9%, compared to the previous quarter. The current balance is now $2.9 trillion higher than it was at the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Debt levels saw a broad-based increase across the board.
The rise in debt levels was evident across various types of loans. Mortgage balances surged by $121 billion to $12.04 trillion at the end of March, despite mortgage originations falling to their lowest levels since 2014. In contrast to the typical pattern of balance declines in the first quarter, auto loan balances increased by $10 billion. Meanwhile, student loan debt saw a small uptick and rose to $1.6 trillion.
Credit card balances were the only category of debt that remained stable at the beginning of the year. The balances remained unchanged at $986 billion, which is the highest level recorded, during the period from January to March. This period is typically a time when consumers curtail their spending after the holiday season and work towards paying down their debts.
According to the Fed, credit card balances usually decrease by around 3% during the first quarter of the year over the past decade. However, in the current year, credit card balances remained unchanged, indicating that households are struggling to cope with the financial burden of high inflation.
