A record number of Americans only makes the minimum credit card payment

• More than 11% of North -Americans with accounts on the largest banks in the country In the fourth quarter of 2024 he only made the minimum payment of the bill of his credit card, since the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia began to track the number 12 years ago. Low revenue consumers have been under increasing pressure since inflation increased to the maximum of four decades after pandemic, and rates prices will further budget.

Credit card data show that consumers are entered increasing pressureJust as President Donald Trump’s rates are willing to make it significantly increase costs about everyday consumers. More than 11% of Americans with accounts of the largest banks in the country only made the minimum payment to the credit card bills in the fourth quarter of 2024, a record since the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia began to track the number 12 years ago.

The Philly Fed’s dataPublished earlier this month, it was highlighted over the weekend by Torsten Sløk, chief economist of the Apollo private equity giant. A report From the SLøK co -authorized firm he said Commercial disordersparticularly between the United States and China, could cause a complete recession In summer. An increasing number of consumers are already vulnerable as delinquency rates increase: the credit card accounts fee 90 days past also set a record.

“Collectively, these trends, along with a new high series for revolving cards, indicate a greater stress of consumers,” wrote Philly Fed analysts, Jeremy Cohn and Brandon Goldstein.

Check this interactive graph at Fortune.com

Jay Hatfield, the Capital Capital Officer Advisors, believes that the fall is imminent if the Fed is not cut interest rate. In addition to increasing general economic activity, this would also make it easier for people to pay their credit card debt.

“So you are seeing a kind of normal rotation,” he said Fortune. “Expenditure on investments low. The labor market is weakened. Consumers spend less.”

However, people will probably not cut astronomically, he said, even in a recession. After all, if north -Americans are struggling to pay their entire balance, it means they continue to buy.

“Usually what we say is that consumers consume just like Woodchucks Chuck Wood,” said Hatfield, who manages ETFS and a series of coverage funds.

“What we mean is that they are extremely resistant,” he added. “The low range has to spend money and the high end wants to spend money and you can spend money.”

Of course, seasonal changes are part of the story: credit card debt levels always increase in the middle of holiday purchases. The data, however, emphasizes the economic developments of the last half decade have affected the high winners and the people with lower income Very different.

An example is access to credit. Fed Philly found that companies gave 90^th Relief percentile their third largest increase in card limits for the last 12 years. For the 50^th The percentile, however, the card limits remained at the level of an average of $ 5,000, a contraction in real terms due to inflation. A similar trend has played with mortgages, with the 90’s^th Bank balance percentile growing twice as much as the median since the last quarter of 2019.

For rich people, Hatfield said, post-paid inflation increased home values ​​and was easily overcome by a booming stock market investment gains. Consumers with lower income, however, have been closed To face a significant increase in the cost of life, as interest rates are high.

“A huge part of society did not benefit from this inflation,” Hatfield said. “They were hammed.”

Tariff concerns hang on consumers

Discontent with this situation has been widely accredited To help Trump land a second point in the Oval Office. Its fixation when using tariffs to reorient world trade and increase an increasing part of America’s revenue, however, it may not be well with more exposed people at higher prices.

Yale’s budget laboratory estimates Trump’s announced rates, from April 15, will cost $ 4,900 in the average home in the dollars last year. Rates are a type of “regressive tax”, which draws a larger part of the poorest house budget than the richest consumers paying the same rate.

“More pressure on low revenue consumers will be putting in, the US economy will put at risk and may end with a recession,” Hatfield said.

Sunday, Trump suggested Rates income could replace household income taxes with less than $ 200,000 a year. Economists and tax policies experts, included in Central-Right Tax Foundation, said it would be impossible.

The White House did not answer Fortune Request for comment.

The chaotic launch of rates has caused Consumer feeling Leave more than three months than at any time since 1990, including the financial crisis of 2008. Meanwhile, the end of inflation of the end of the year have been higher since 1981, when the price increases were just beginning to retreat after a ruin.

Executives of taste of Southwest Airlines, Childrenand PepsicoIn the meantime it has warned their business already feel the effects of people Cut. After all, an increasing number of consumers struggles to pay the credit card bills.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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