NEW YORK—Roughly a third of Americans say they have higher balances on their credit cards than they do in their rainy-day funds, a new study reports.
The worrisome percentage points to why so many people remain gloomy about the economy, despite cooling inflation and low unemployment, said CBS News, citing a Bankrate report.
According to a new study from Bankrate, 36% of Americans say they have amassed more credit card debt than emergency savings.
“That's the highest percentage of participants to say so in the 12 years since Bankrate added the question to its annual survey,” CBS News reported. “Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults point to inflation as the main reason why they are unable to save for the unexpected.”
‘Key Culprit’
Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst with Bankrate, told CBS News, “Inflation has been a key culprit standing in the way of further progress on the savings front. Fortunately, rising interest rates have also provided more generous returns on savings.
CBS News noted, however, rising interest rates can also hurt finances, as is the case with credit card rates that have surged over the past year. Among survey respondents, 45% say rising interest rates are behind their lower savings account contributions.
Now With Free Shipping!
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?