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Consumer Debt Will Reach $4 Trillion by The End of 2018

ElitePersonalFinance
Last Update: September 13, 2021 • Financial News •

    Since 2012, consumer debt has constantly been growing and will likely reach a new record in the second half of this year.

    About 10% of people’s monthly income remains for paying non-mortgage debts such as credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and personal loans.

    You need to think about three key areas when managing these balances.

    We all know that Americans like to borrow. But the fact that the total consumer debt will reach $4 trillion by the end of this year doesn’t look promising at all.

    According to LendingTree, which analyzed data from the Federal Reserve on non-mortgage debts, including credit cards and auto, student, and personal loans, Americans owe over 26% of their annual income to this debt. This means 4% more than in 2010 and higher than the debt level in the mid-2000 when credit was widely available.

    Credit card and auto loan debts increase by over 7% a year, and housing debt is climbing by slightly more than 2%.

    For about two years, consumer credit has been increasing by 5% to 6%, and LendingTree estimates that consumer debt will reach over $4 trillion by the end of 2018.

    This is not a surprise considering that the debt level has been increasing since 2012. Consumers spend around 10% of their income paying this debt, while the same debt type was about 12% to 13% from 2000 to 2008.

    However, credit card delinquency rates are at 2.4%, which is quite low.

    What to Know if Your Personal Debt Increase

    • Track your money. You should know where your money is going. Start by your high-interest credit card debt, which keeps climbing each month. On the other hand, auto- and student-loan debts are not concerning since they have lower interest rates.
    • The future of interest rates. If everything goes according to Federal Reserve plans, interest rates will be raised several times this year. This will definitely increase consumer debt. For this reason, you should start thinking about refinancing your debts or at least some of them. If you do this, you could move your 15% APR credit card debt to a 7% APR personal loan, as well as refinance your student loan at a fixed rate and prevent the upcoming rate fluctuations from destroying your finances.
    • You should always know how much money you earn and spend, no matter how high your personal debt level is. This means that you should cut back on unnecessary subscriptions, reduce your bank fees and scale back on shopping.

    Also, in case your credit card debt is increasing, consider switching to your debit card. This will allow you to whittle down your debts by first attacking the balances with the highest rates. On the other hand, if you have many small balances, you might want to neutralize them first.

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