2024 Consumer Debt Off to a Bad Start

Personal-finance website WalletHub has analyzed the most recent data on U.S. consumer debt from the Federal Reserve and has found that 2024 is off to a bad start.

According to a recent press release, January data showed a 6% increase in consumer credit card debt compared to the same time in 2023.

WalletHub now projects that credit card debt will increase by another $120+ billion by the end of 2024, putting the United States very close to a record on an inflation-adjusted basis.

“The latest official data on credit card debt tells us that U.S. consumers are in a very precarious position,” said John Kiernan, WalletHub editor.  “On the one hand, we owe a record $1.3 trillion in absolute terms, after adding $108 billion in new credit card debt during 2023, and if we continue to indulge our urge to overspend, things could get rocky very quickly. On the other hand, we actually added 7% less debt in 2023 than the prior year. Whether this small seed of optimism bears fruit depends on how well we behave in the coming months and whether we put savings from cooling inflation to good use. Things aren’t looking good so far, with January starting worse than the year before.”

For more information, visit Wallethub’s website.