A record number of consumers are making minimum credit cards payments as delinquencies also rise
Source: CNBC
Published Wed, Jan 22 2025 1:54 PM EST Updated Thu, Jan 23 2025 8:56 AM EST
Consumer stress has intensified, with an escalating share of credit card holders making only minimum payments on their bills, according to a Philadelphia Federal Reserve report. In fact, the share of active holders just making baseline payments on their cards jumped to a 12-year high, data through the third quarter of 2024 shows.
The level rose to 10.75% for the period, part of a continuing trend that began in 2021 and has accelerated as average interest rates have soared and delinquencies also have accelerated. The increase also marked a series high for a data set that began in 2012. Along with the trend in minimum payments came a move higher in delinquency rates.
The share of balances more than 30 days past due rose to 3.52%, an increase from 3.21%, for a year-over-year gain of more than 10%. It also is more than double the delinquency level of the pandemic-era low of 1.57% hit in the second quarter of 2021.
The news counters a general narrative of a healthy consumer who has kept on spending despite inflation hitting a more than 40-year high in mid-2022 and holding above the Fed’s 2% target for nearly four years.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/22/minimum-payments-on-credit-cards-hit-record-level-as-delinquencies-also-rise.html
Link to Philadelphia Federal Reserve REPORT - 2024 Q3 Insights Report
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where carrying large amounts of cash wouldn't work. Mom & Pop's like cash.
If you can, I repeat, if you can, pay off the card each month. Banks don't like it when you pay off your balance each month because you get to use their money for free for 30-days and that bugs the shit out of them. 
They refer to those that pay off the balance as "deadbeats". I wear it proudly.