– The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle: Behind The Inexplicable “Strength” Of US Consumers Is $700 Billion In “Phantom Debt”:
Yesterday we discussed the latest consumer credit data, which revealed that the amount of credit card debt across the US has hit a new record high of $1.337 trillion (even though it appears to have finally hit a brick wall, barely rising in March by the smallest amount since the covid crash), even as the savings rate has tumbled to an all time low.
To be sure, credit card debt is just a small portion (~6%) of the total household debt stack: as the next chart from the latest NY Fed consumer credit report shows, the bulk, or 70%, of US household debt is in the form of mortgages, followed by student loans, auto loans, credit card debt, home equity credit and various other forms. Altogether, the total is a massive $17.5 trillion in total household debt.
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