, Columnist
The Trillion-Dollar Card Question
As the amount of debt rises, consumers are starting to miss some payments.
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After years of packing on debt, more American consumers are struggling to pay their credit-card bills.
Credit card charge-offs have been rising steadily, posting their biggest surge since 2015 in February. Lenders from Capital One Financial Corp. to Discover Financial Services have ratcheted up loan-loss provisions and reported increasing delinquencies. This has raised concern among analysts and investors alike, especially when paired with the fact that card loans outstanding just surpassed $1 trillion for the first time since the financial crisis.