Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/13/record-number-of-americans-are.html
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“The reason that more delinquent loans exist now is because there’s simply more loans than at any other time, according to the Fed’s data.”
For some reason, this news gave me the crazy idea to dress up like a post-apocalyptic extra from Mad Max and see if I can get a car loan.
“Does it have a hemi? I’m going to need a hemi.”
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But look at the employment numbers!
(Never mind “jobs with dignity”. Are they keeping a roof over their heads, are they moving forward or sliding back financially?)
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This is intense!!
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NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT!!! Do I win? Did I win? What do I win?!
Oh…I won the car I paid for and already own. great.
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It feels like they buried the lead in focusing on auto payments. From the article:
Overall, household debt rose by $32 billion, or 0.2 percent, to $13.54 trillion in the fourth quarter. That’s $869 billion higher than the crisis peak of $12.68 trillion and is 21.4 percent above the post-crisis low point in the second quarter of 2013.
Student loan debt edged higher to $1.46 trillion while credit card balances rose to $870 billion, right around their crisis peak.
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Repo man’s always intense.
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Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people . I hate ’ em .
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My personal policy is that I can only afford things that I can pay for. Credit seems exactly like a scam to me. How can I possibly promise to pay for my house every month for 35 years when I could easily lose my job at any time and getting a new job takes a few months?
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My name is Otto and I like to get blotto.
All the seriously worrying economic indicators keep piling up. My own question now is whether the economy will collapse before or after Trump leaves office.
Yeah. I don’t do credit. My credit score must be pretty awful, ironically.
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I actually have good credit. Thanks to having a cosigned visa with my dad, and regularly buying gas I could already pay for then paying back the bill before interest.
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I haven’t had a credit card since college - the terms were terrible, so I got rid of it and haven’t had one since. I suppose I really should get one and use it, but it’s a whole lot of hassle just to improve my credit score slightly.
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If you pay your full balance every month, it really does not matter what the interest rate is on the card. Get one with no annual fee and cash back, and it actually works out better for you to put all your spending on a credit card instead of using cash. (Yes, that’s exactly what I do.) More convenient for most things, too. And having a credit card is exceptionally useful for anything that needs a deposit, like renting a car.
(No, I swear I do not work for the credit card marketing board.)
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Yeah, it’s just the annoying extra step of paying off the credit card every month - with the debit card I could have just used in the first place.
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I get it. Personally, I don’t like using my debit card because if that thing is compromised, bad actors get access to my back account. Credit cards add a level of insulation. Steal that, and I call the credit card 800 number and they deactivate the card, stop suspicious transactions, and send me a new card in the mail.
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Also having a credit card and a debit card means you have access to one if you are forced to cancel the other
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I learned a lesson the hard way when staying at a hotel in the '90s. Some transactions should never be put on a debit card. I keep a credit card for that reason, and if something happens to it, I don’t have to worry about a thief accessing any cash. A friend of mine lost a debit card and a lot of cash because he didn’t notice right away. The bank set a limit for how much cash they would pay out on the loss.
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The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.
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This record number made me wonder if people are failing at the promise to pay for the car which doubles as their house. With the low wages paid for gig economy jobs, I’m not surprised at so many people falling behind on payments.
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