A Century Foundation report finds household debt payments are rising eight times as fast as take-home pay, meaning 52 cents of every dollar workers gain goes to paying down debt. Racial and gender wealth gaps make debt harder to repay for people of color, who pay higher interest on credit; even among super-prime borrowers, Black workers' payments take 13.6 percent of take-home income versus 8.4 percent for white workers. Credit card interest rates rose from 12.90 percent in 2013 to 22.8 percent in 2023, now at the highest level on record. The New York Fed reported credit card balances rose $21 billion to $1.26 trillion and auto loan balances rose $28 billion to $1.71 trillion, while Experian data showed a 21.62 percent average rate for used-car buyers with deep subprime scores versus 6.29 percent for super prime borrowers. The report urges debt relief, higher wages, expanded bargaining rights and crackdowns on predatory lenders.
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SPY
• NeutralSPDR S&P 500 ETF
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | ETF |
| Close on 10/21/2026 | 773.09 |
| Change that session | +0.53% |
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