Finance
Consumers spend more than $1 trillion on interest payments, largely due to increasing credit card debt
Credit card debt makes up half of all interest paid in the last quarter of 2023. (iStock)
Interest payments for U.S. consumers are through the roof. Last quarter, consumers spent a record-high $1.1 trillion on interest payments alone, reported Quartz, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Over half of those interest payments were not related to mortgage debt. Mortgages often have some of the highest interest over the life of the loans.
The “personal interest payments” line of BEA’s report shows that $563.2 billion of the $1.1 trillion was non-mortgage related interest.
“The dominance of the 15-30-year fixed-rate mortgage has played a significant role in blunting the impact of higher rates on aggregate household debt service,” head of U.S. regional economics at the credit rating agency Fitch, said.
“However, the sharp increase in credit card rates and the resumption of student loan payments will drive non-mortgage household debt service to historic highs in 2024.”
Credit cards have some of the highest interest rates outside of payday loans, with the average interest rate sitting at 22.8% as of 2023.
To get yourself out of your high-interest debt, consider consolidating it into a personal loan with a lower interest rate. You can also plug in some simple information into Credible’s free online tool to determine if a debt consolidation loan is your best option.
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Credit card debts rose more in 2023 than auto loans, student loans
In 2023, credit card debt balances rose more than many other loan types. Credit card balances increased by $50 billion and are now at $1.13 trillion — a 4.6% increase, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“We saw a meaningful rise in the amount of consumer borrowing, mostly in the form of unsecured revolving credit, like credit cards.” Rob Haworth, a senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said.
While total auto loan balances are higher than credit card debt, they rose by just $12 billion last year, much lower than credit card debt. Student loans, on the other hand, stayed relatively flat with a $2 billion increase in the last quarter of 2023.
Retail cards and other consumer loans also significantly added to the total debt last year, rising by $25 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank reported.
“As inflation became a burden and government payments ended, consumers were willing to take on more debt,” Matt Schoeppner, a senior economist at U.S. Bank, said.
If your credit card debt is becoming too much of a burden, a personal loan can help make your monthly payment more affordable. If you’re interested in consolidating or refinancing debt, it can help to have experienced loan officers on your side. Visit Credible to get all your loan consolidation and refinancing questions answered.
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Renters deal with higher credit card debt than homeowners
The Americans who deal with the highest amounts of credit card debt are typically renters and lower income borrowers, AP News reported.
Inflation is to blame in many ways. Homeowners and wealthier individuals have the savings cushion to withstand times of high inflation, while renters and low-income earners don’t.
While inflation brought higher housing prices — great for sellers — it also raised the cost of many goods and rental costs, which has caused many renters to put their bills on high-interest credit cards.
The median rent across the country reached $1,712 in January, up by 18.3% from four years ago, according to Realtor.com. Although prices have been dropping slightly since the height of the pandemic, they’re still too high for many.
If you’re struggling to make ends meet and tackle your debt once and for all, a personal loan with a low interest rate can help. If you would like to get a sense of what debt consolidation loan options are available to you, visit Credible to compare rates and lenders.
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Have a finance-related question, but don’t know who to ask? Email The Credible Money Expert at [email protected] and your question might be answered by Credible in our Money Expert column.
Investors always pay close attention to bonds, and what the latest movement in prices and yields is saying about the economy. Right now, the action is telling investors to stick to the shorter-end of the fixed-income market with their maturities.
“There’s lots of concern and volatility, but on the short and middle end, we’re seeing less volatility and stable yields,” Joanna Gallegos, CEO and founder of bond ETF company BondBloxx, said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”
The 3-month T-Bill right now is paying above 4.3%, annualized. The two-year is paying 3.9% while the 10-year is offering about 4.4%.
ETF flows in 2025 show that it’s the ultrashort opportunity that is attracting the most investors. The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) and SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 T-Bill ETF (BIL) are both among the top 10 ETFs in investor flows this year, taking in over $25 billion in assets. Only Vanguard Group’s S&P 500 ETF (VOO) has taken in more new money from investors this year than SGOV, according to ETFAction.com data. Vanguard’s Short Term Bond ETF (BSV) is not far behind, with over $4 billion in flows this year, placing with the top 20 among all ETFs in year-to-date flows.
“Long duration just doesn’t work right now” said Todd Sohn, senior ETF and technical strategist at Strategas Securities, on “ETF Edge.”
It would seem that Warren Buffett agrees, with Berkshire Hathaway doubling its ownership of T-bills and now owning 5% of all short-term Treasuries, according to a JPMorgan report.
Investors including Warren Buffett have been piling into short term Treasuries.
“The volatility has been on the long end,” Gallegos said. “The 20-year has gone from negative to positive five times so far this year,” she added.
The bond volatility comes nine months after the Fed’s began cutting rates, a campaign it has since paused amid concerns about the potential for resurgent inflation due to tariffs. Broader market concerns about government spending and deficit levels, especially with a major tax cut bill on the horizon, have added to bond market jitters.
Long-term treasuries and long-term corporate bonds have posted negative performance since September, which is very rare, according to Sohn. “The only other time that’s happened in modern times was during the financial crisis,” he said. “It is hard to argue against short term duration bonds right now,” he added.
Sohn is advising clients to steer clear of anything with a duration of longer than seven years, which has a yield in the 4.1% range right now.
Gallegos says she is concerned that amid the bond market volatility, investors aren’t paying enough attention to fixed income as part of their portfolio mix. “My fear is investors are not diversifying their portfolios with bonds today, and investors still have an equity addiction to concentrated broad-based indexes that are overweight certain tech names. They get used to these double-digit returns,” she said.
Volatility in the stock market has been high this year as well. The S&P 500 rose to record levels in February, before falling 20%, hitting a low in April, and then reversing all of those losses more recently. While bonds are an important component of long-term investing to shield a portfolio from stock corrections, Sohn said now is also a time for investors to look beyond the United States with their equity positions.
“International equities are contributing to portfolios like they haven’t done in a decade” he said. “Last year was Japanese equities, this year it is European equities. Investors don’t have to be loaded up on U.S. large cap growth right now,” he said.
The iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF (EZU) is up 25% so far this year. The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) Japan ETF is up 25% over the last two years.
Overseas assets have become more popular.
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