American households increased their total debt by $78 billion in the third quarter of 2023, according to a new report.
The study, released Tuesday by WalletHub, found that the average amount of total debt owed by US households at the end of the third quarter was $145,319. This is $13,631 below the all-time high set in the fourth quarter of 2008.
“Consumers typically take on the most debt in the fourth quarter of the year as we overspend on holiday gifts and travel, so it’s not a good sign when we enter the final months of the year with a lot of new debt,” John Kiernan, WalletHub’s managing editor, said in a statement emailed to The Hill.
“Given how the third quarter played out, WalletHub now projects that US households will end the year with more than $350 billion more in debt than they started,” Kiernan added.
The collective debt owed by US households heading into the fourth quarter of 2023 is $17.3 trillion, according to the report.
The report also looked at different types of debt. It found that household mortgage debt increased by about $20 billion in the third quarter, a drastic change from the previous quarter when it increased by about $273 billion.
It also found that total credit card debt increased to around $1.08 trillion in the third quarter of 2023, up from around $1.04 billion in the second quarter. This quarter’s total credit card debt is $189 billion below the all-time high set in the fourth quarter of 2008.
