More Americans Tap Credit Cards for Everyday Expenses
Census data shows that households are struggling to cover bills as pandemic savings run out.
An employee uses a payment terminal at a supermarket.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The number of Americans relying on credit cards to cover daily expenses jumped in December as households battered by inflation find their regular income is no longer enough to make ends meet.
New data released Thursday in the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey found that more than 35% of households used credit cards or loans in December to cover spending needs in the past week. That’s up from around 32% in November and just 21% in April 2021, when the Census first started collecting the data.