Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Today's Headlines: Household Debt Approaching Record Levels

MoneyTips


Debt Is On the Rise Again

Are you feeling nostalgic for 2008? Perhaps not, but we are heading toward an unpleasant milestone set in 2008 – a record amount of household debt. The New York Fed's February 2017 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit reports that our collective household debt has reached $12.58 trillion. At the current rate of increase, household debt should surpass the 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion sometime this year.

It's not unreasonable to expect cumulative debt to rise over time even if interest were not considered, since the number of households in the U.S. expands every year. There were 125.82 million American households in 2016 compared to 116.78 in 2008. Even so, the overall trend line is cause for concern.

Given that runaway debt was a major driver in the Great Recession, should we be worried that another meltdown is on the way? Probably not. For answers, look beyond the cumulative debt number to the changing nature of...



from MoneyTips https://www.moneytips.com/todays-headlines-household-debt-approaching-record-levels/893

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