NEW YORK – Federal Reserve has released data about the amount of consumer debt of Americans. The figure revealed by it is quite surprising and it showed that as of February month the consumer debt exceeded $4 trillion for the first time. Increasing credit card and relatively strong holiday spending have contributed to over $41 billion in outstanding balances at the end of 2018. Apart from this, a steady increase in student loan balances along with an increase in the cost of automobiles financing in the fourth quarter also led to a contribution of $80 billion.
The high sale of financial products in the past year has led to the rise of the debt amount in America. The data of the Fed Reserve has been analyzed by Lending Tree, a loan comparison website in America. Lending Tree further said that consumers are spending 10 percent of their disposable income on mortgage debts, including credit cards and auto, personal and student loans. The economist of Lending Tree further said this amount of debt is pretty manageable.
According to the date of the Federal Reserve, an average American has a credit card balance of $4,293. Also, the total credit has also been at its highest point ever and crossed $1 trillion. The survey conducted by WalletHub credit cards said that about 86 million Americans make a large purchase to max out their credit card. Also, credit card rates have not been higher in comparison to the current 17.41 percent.
The report pointed out that outstanding student loan debt has tripled in the last decade and has now reached $1.5 trillion. A college education is considered as the second-most expensive investment by an investment in his lifetime.