The News Radar

Timely links to external news and articles, usually valuation related, with occasional commentary.


Originally posted Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Americans Put More on Credit Cards as Inflation Boosts Costs, Fed Data Show

A record 537 million credit card accounts were opened in the first quarter, a jump of 31 million over the past year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly report on household debt and credit. Meantime, mortgage originations totaled $859 billion in the first three months of 2022, the lowest in nearly two years.

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A separate report last week showed US consumer borrowing soared in March by the most on record as credit-card balances ballooned and non-revolving credit jumped, underscoring the combined impact of solid spending and rising prices. That’s a good sign in that spending is the largest contributor to the economy, but could be worrisome if Americans can’t keep up on payments.

This is an absolute train wreck.