The economic boom that the U.S. economy experienced in 2022 came hand-in-hand with a resurgence in credit card debt.

The average consumer had $5,289 in credit card debt the fourth quarter of 2022, just $4 shy of the pre-pandemic peak in 2019, according to a report released Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government’s consumer watchdog agency. Credit card debt plunged in the pandemic, hitting its lowest since at least 2013 before bouncing back, as the chart below shows.

The report highlights how the end of pandemic-era government relief programs has affected the mos♏t financially precarious ไhouseholds. Direct cash payments in the form of stimulus checks, rental relief, and the expanded child tax credits helped many people stabilize their budgets and pay down credit card debt. 

When those programs ended, credit card debt swelled. Overall card debt passed $1 trillion for the first time, and one in ten cardholders were charged more in 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:interest and fees than they paid toward principal each year.

The data indicates “a pattern of persistent indebtedness that could become increasingly difficult for some consumers to escape,” the bureau said in the report.

The problem could be worsened by 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:rising interest rates♏ on credit cards, which have been pushed up by the Federal Reserve’s 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:campaign of anti-inflation interes♓t rate hikes, the bureau said.