Record levels of credit card debt are squeezing consumers [Video]

Consumer confidence is up, and so is consumer spending.But it’s not without consequences for Americans — with one generation particularly strained to start 2024.Three years of high inflation, plus higher interest rates to tame it, have equaled more financial stress on the American consumer.Especially when it comes to credit cards.”More people are carrying more credit card debt for longer periods of time. We’re talking record high balances, record high interest rates,” Ted Rossman, a Bankrate senior industry analyst, said. “It’s a tough combination, unfortunately.”A report released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said credit card balances rose to a new high of $1.3 trillion in the final three months of 2023.And credit card and auto loan delinquencies pushed past pre-pandemic levels, to their highest levels in more than a decade.Researchers at the New York Fed believe the post-pandemic resumption of federal student loan payments has added to …