Balancing The Account

In Q2, Credit Card Debt Catches Up to US Consumers

September 12, 2014         By: Kevin Xu

Consumers are digging themselves deeper into credit card debt this year, according to CardHub’s Q2 Credit Card Debt Study.

The study was based on findings released by the United States’ Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve.

CardHub shows that U.S. consumers had paid off $32.5 billion in credit card debt during the first quarter of 2014, which is the usual trend following the previous year’s holiday shopping season.

However, the second quarter saw consumers racking up $28.2 billion in debt, which was the largest amount of debt accrued since 2009.

CardHub projects that U.S. consumers will end 2014 with $54.79 billion more debt than they started with.

CardHub

Households are holding slightly more debt this quarter as well. The average household is now up to $6,802, an increase in $172 from the first quarter.

The Federal Reserve found that in Q2, more consumers are defaulting and producing revolving debt while CardHub predicts that average household debt will rise above $7,000, the highest since 2010.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that only 142,000 jobs were added in the month of August, severely undercutting the average monthly gain of 212,000 over the last year.