According to their calculations, credit card balances increased by $48 billion (4.7%) from the past three months and by $154 billion on an annual basis, the highest increase since records began in 1999. This brought the total outstanding credit card debt to a new record high of $1.08 trillion.
Meanwhile, mortgage balances also surged to $12.14 trillion, while student loan and auto loan balances rose to $1.6 trillion each.
Total household debt grew by $228 billion during the reporting period, largely due to the credit cards and student loans, and reached $17.29 trillion, RT reported.
Researchers pointed out that more and more households were having difficulty managing their debt amid persistently skyrocketing inflation and rising interest rates.
For example, nearly 9.5% of credit card balances were more than 90 days delinquent in the reporting period, the report said, up from 8% in the second quarter.
“The increase in balances is consistent with strong nominal spending and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the same time frame. But credit card delinquencies continue to rise from their historical lows seen during the pandemic,” researchers from the New York Fed said in a statement that accompanied the data, the report added.