topic Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record in Credit in the News

Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndySoCal — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:34:32 GMT

Here is a link to an article

https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/credit-card-debt-statistics/

This amount is larger than the assets of all but 4 banks in America.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndrewF — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 05:11:18 GMT

I like to call this "We expect inflation to be temporary."

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

crystal626 — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 06:04:59 GMT

While the number is high, delinquencies are trending down, so it's not really that concerning beyond the staggering number at least.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

Lou-natic — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:29:28 GMT

@AndySoCal wrote:
Here is a link to an article

https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/credit-card-debt-statistics/

This amount is larger than the assets of all but 4 banks in America.

I like how on one hand the population is always growing, but on the other hand "rising consumer debt" is always a topic every quarter. The number are almost always going to go up because that's how it works. We need more young people to pay taxes to pay for more elderly in a neverending cycle too. Our entire system is predicated on "numbers go up".

As long as all the "numbers go up" then none of this crap matters and the article is dumb.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndrewF — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 20:58:55 GMT

@crystal626 wrote:
While the number is high, delinquencies are trending down, so it's not really that concerning beyond the staggering number at least.

Not delinquent just means making the minimum payments on time.

A bankruptcy lawyer once told me that people delay filing for longer than they should. They'll call his office and say I really need to file and then he won't hear anything from them for months, then they call back and say they're really broke and have to file now and then go silent.

Finally a year and a half later they file after they spend all that time making minimum payments that were just wasting money.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndySoCal — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:04:50 GMT

Some people manage their money just as well as the federal government. The last I checked the national debt was between 35 to 40 trillion dollars. The big difference the goverment can print more money (legally) the citizen cannot. The national debt as a percentage of GNP is in uncharted territory that is not a good thing. My friend used credit credit cards to finance any short falls or to buy whatever he wanted. Long story short he filed BK 7 and it was discharged. Lesson learned now he determined never to pay a penny in interest. I am waiting to for the next recession to see how busy the BK courts become. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarts of negative GNP. None this feels like trash.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndrewF — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 22:54:05 GMT

The economy feels like trash already and I just know in my heart that the statistics, are cooked.

The last thing they want to do while the other guys are over performing by 17 points anyway, is admit that they screwed all of us, prices are going up fast, and more layoffs than hiring.

Even the hiring websites are laying people off. Many fake job postings coming down.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndySoCal — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 01:39:04 GMT

@AndrewF I live an Los Angeles rents near me are 1800 to 2000. In others over 2500 per month Northern California is even higher than that. When have traveled in the past if I go into a grocery store their regular price is a sale price compared to what I pay here. gas is over four dollars per gallon. California is one of the most screwed up states in the nation. When I retire it will not be in California I would say more about that I would most likely cross the terms of service of the forum

One on my better decisions was to dump the local grocery store a Kroger chain store and Albertsons and Safeway for Walmart / Walmart+. Walmarts pricing is so much better. Some people do not like Walmart for whatever reasons. Walmart pricing also better than Target. I also do not like Instcart either.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

AndrewF — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 02:27:00 GMT

@AndySoCal wrote:
@AndrewF I live an Los Angeles rents near me are 1800 to 2000. In others over 2500 per month Northern California is even higher than that. When have traveled in the past if I go into a grocery store their regular price is a sale price compared to what I pay here. gas is over four dollars per gallon. California is one of the most screwed up states in the nation. When I retire it will not be in California I would say more about that I would most likely cross the terms of service of the forum

One on my better decisions was to dump the local grocery store a Kroger chain store and Albertsons and Safeway for Walmart / Walmart+. Walmarts pricing is so much better. Some people do not like Walmart for whatever reasons. Walmart pricing also better than Target. I also do not like Instcart either.

The rest of the country is catching up fast. 10 years ago I got an apartment in Chicago for $550 a month. This year it's $1,667.

Re: Credit card debt reaches a new record

Realist — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:33:00 GMT

So long as the credit can be serviced, this growth is a non-issue. Growth is expected, as each generation will produce an ever growing amount of people that will want excellent things in life. Credit will then be extended based upon their ability to pay back.

Where this becomes an issue, is in their ability to pay back. That is in job growth or job reduction. Today, the job growth scenario while not great, isn't impossible. I know first hand multiple people laid off recently in my circle, and a number of them I personally worked with over a career. I've also experienced within my own family to have been laid off not once, but twice recently, in which they all found a job relatively quickly among this job market. But, you could feel the change within the job market.

With all of that said, the ecomony and the bubble of all bubbles is upon us now. Larger than the last. The market held up longer than any prior run. At some point in time, this house of cards will likely come crashing down - like all times prior. And then it will rise again. The pendulum swings both ways, creating "exciting" times to live in. The moves become greater and greater. The numbers get bigger and bigger. The debts get larger and larger. And yet, some think it somehow becomes impossible. Eventually it all has to break. I simply ask, have we run out of zeros yet?

So long as they can avoid a Zimbabwe or Weimer type of hyperinflation, the game of musical chairs will continue on. Do you remember when gas was $.025, a loaf of bread $0.05 cents, etc? I don't either, but I hear the stories. They'll never run out of zeros. It's their greatest weapon in the game of worldwide collectivism. I expect we'll be talking about the same issues and problems again in the coming decades, just with higher prices.

Credit will always extend, so long as there is a market of individuals to extend to. Credit will expand and shrink according to the boons and struggles placed upon the citizens. It's all a calculated in risk from the banks standpoint.