It’s getting more expensive to borrow from banks in America, and some credit card holders are struggling to keep up.
Interest rates, which influence the cost of borrowing, are on the rise after the Federal Reserve kept them near zero for years. That period of super-low interest rates achieved one key outcome: encouraging Americans to borrow, spend, and help grow the economy after the Great Recession.
Last June, credit-card debt finally hit a new high. But the share of borrowers who make payments more than 30 days late is rising as interest rates rise.
“That stands in stark contrast to the trend in delinquency rates on other forms of lending, which are either flat or falling,” Michael Pearce, a senior US economist at Capital Economics, said in a note on Monday.
