US Consumers Increase Debt Levels

In the USA, Experian Consumer Direct has this week announced the results of a nationwide study on consumer debt that shows consumers have increased their debt by more than 12% over the past two years.

Minimum monthly payment obligations also increased by 10% during the same time period.

According to Ty Taylor, president of Experian Consumer Direct, 'In addition to consumers taking on substantially more debt over the past two years, their number of late payments increased nearly 20%. This shows that as consumers took on more financial responsibility, they were not able to manage it effectively. However, on a positive note, our study also revealed that during the same time period, each year consumers applied for credit less often and opened fewer credit cards.'

Overall results are as follows:

[table]

* Does not include mortgage loan balance or monthly mortgage payment
** Debt consists of both revolving and installment credit.

Experian's study was compiled using the National Score Index, which is based on a nationwide sampling of 3 million consumer credit profiles. The National Score Index web site is updated monthly with the most recent Experian data regarding US consumers' credit and is a powerful indicator of the nation's overall financial health. In addition to average credit scores for the nation, regions, states and local areas, the National Score Index monitors several other components of consumer credit behavior, including average debt, credit utilisation, late payments and credit inquiries.

More information about the Experian study plus additional credit data at state and local levels, can be found at www.NationalScoreIndex.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.