NEW YORK — For Americans who lacked savings prior to the pandemic, financial stress is rising. A combination of inflation, increased interest rates, and the end of pandemic-tied relief, such as the moratorium on student loan payments, has led to record credit card debt, experts say.
In the third quarter of 2023, Americans held more than $1.05 trillion on their credit cards, and the average interest rate on a given credit card is now roughly 21.5%, the highest its been since the Federal Reserve started tracking rates in 1994. A recent report from credit rating company Moodys found credit card delinquencies are now well above 2019, or pre-pandemic levels.
Silvio Tavares, president and CEO of VantageScore, one of the countrys two major cre…
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