Synchrony Financial reported that third-quarter credit card purchase volume rose 8% to $49.7 billion, with Gen Z and millennial customers posting the fastest growth, partly due to higher prices such as gasoline. A Federal Reserve survey found 47% of adults aged 18 to 29 received help from outside their household with expenses in 2025, and 49% of those under 30 lived with a parent, up 12 percentage points from 2019. Pressure intensified as consumer prices rose 3.7% year over year in September while inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 0.7%. Credit card balances among respondents struggling to get by rose 37%, or $2,530, between 2023 and 2025, versus a 1% ($59) increase among those living comfortably, and the average interest rate on accounts assessed interest reached 22.36% in August. Synchrony's loans at least 30 days past due fell to 4.34% from 4.39% a year earlier, while outstanding loans rose 3% to $103.3 billion.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on aol.com ↗
Keywords
creditcost of livingcredit cardsinterest rates
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related news
- New York credit limits fall 11% on new accounts, WalletHub finds
New credit card accounts opened by New York residents in the second quarter of 2026 had an average credit limit of $5,151, down 11.05% from the same quarter a year earlier, according to WalletHub. For accounts opened in the 12 months to June 2026, the average was $8,166, down 0.18%, and New York ranked 23rd among the 50 states in the report on credit limit decreases. WalletHub said average limits fell in 36 states year over year, with Utah ranking first overall, followed by Minnesota and Montana. Analyst Chip Lupo said rising card debt, delinquency, lower credit scores, reduced income and inflation's effect on balances can all contribute to limit cuts. A lower limit can raise credit utilization and hurt a credit score.
- Young Americans Lead Credit Card Spending Surge As Cost Of Living Squeezes Paychecks
Synchrony Financial reported third-quarter credit card purchase volume up 8% to $49.7 billion, with Gen Z and millennial customers showing the fastest growth as living costs and elevated borrowing costs strained budgets. Part of the increase reflected higher prices, including gasoline, as consumers spent more without necessarily buying more goods. A Federal Reserve survey found 47% of adults aged 18 to 29 received help from outside their household with expenses in 2025, and average credit card balances among those struggling to get by rose 37%, or $2,530, between 2023 and 2025. The average interest rate on accounts assessed interest reached 22.36% in August. Still, Synchrony's 30-day delinquency rate eased to 4.34% from 4.39% a year earlier.
- Split large purchases with ACB card, earn up to 200,000 reward points with first installment
ACB credit cards let cardholders split large purchases, such as a 20-million-VND refrigerator, into installments of up to 3 years. Under the “First Installment” programme for customers who have not converted any transaction to installments in 2026, eligible transactions from 10 million VND with 6, 9 or 12-month terms can earn up to 200,000 ACB Rewards points. For example, a 20-million-VND refrigerator paid over 12 months at 0% interest costs about 1.67 million VND per month and earns 1% back, or 200,000 points, subject to conditions. New 18, 24 and 36-month terms, added from July 2026, offer 100% reimbursement of conversion fees for transactions from 3 million VND, up to 300,000 points, until December 31, 2026.
- Americans Are Paying 30 % More Than in 2019 and the Cost of Everyday Life Keeps Climbing
A worker whose salary rose from $75,000 in 2019 to $90,000 today still needs about $97,500 to keep their 2019 purchasing power, leaving them $7,500 short. Since 2019, the cost of everyday life has risen roughly 30%, with vehicle maintenance up 55%, food up 35%, and rent up 33%. Inflation has slowed, but prices are not falling: CPI rose 3.7% year over year in September, up from 3.4% in August, and gasoline jumped 34.2%. The EIA forecasts wholesale power prices in America's largest electricity market to rise 41% this year, partly due to demand from AI data centers. Federal Reserve data shows 19.6% of borrowing families were behind on payments in 2025, compared with 12.2% in 2022, and the median debt-payment burden rose from 13% to 15% of income.
- High - cost credit becomes lifeline for struggling consumers
- Consumer credit creep
New research shows consumers who struggle to afford essentials are turning to much higher-cost borrowing, such as payday loans and buy-now-pay-later services. Homebuilder confidence fell to its lowest level in 14 years in October, and the construction labor pool has shrunk as ICE immigration raids draw attention. A Michigan dairy farmer had to bear the full cost of installing solar power after the Department of Agriculture withdrew funding approval for most of the farm's solar and wind projects. The update also covers political campaigns seeking to shape what AI chatbots say about them, and a trend of coffee lovers turning their homes into artisan coffee shops in California and Utah.
Related markets
Latest news
- Amazon Stock And Other Mega Cap Tech Names For The AI Infrastructure Reset
AI infrastructure stocks have just sold off hard even though earnings and backlogs still look solid, and the article argues this indiscriminate selling could open opportunities for patient investors watching Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon. It profiles three related stocks: Arrow Electronics, with about US$25.4b in Global Components revenue and US$10.5b from Global ECS, ECS billings above US$6.4b in Q1 2026, and a backlog more than 75% higher year over year by Q2 2026. Ciena, an optical networking hardware provider, generates about US$4.8b from Networking Platforms, and the article says its addressable market could roughly double to about US$50–52b by 2029. Dynatrace, an AI-powered observability platform, generates about US$2.1b in revenue, and management says customers moving to its DPS model increase usage and spending by 2x.
- What AngloGold Ashanti Stock Investors Should Know About Ghana Mining Labor Rules
Ghana's government has directed its Minerals Commission to standardise salaries, wages and employment conditions across the mining sector as operations shift from owner mining to local contractors, aiming to prevent pay and benefit cuts during these transitions. The rule could reshape AngloGold Ashanti's cost structure, labour relations and contractor strategy at its Ghanaian sites. The article notes no fresh company announcements on Ghanaian labour since the October 2026 directive, and the core story remains growth projects at Geita, Obuasi, Siguiri, Cuiabá and Nevada plus an approved US$2b buyback. Analysts expect revenue of about $12.1b and earnings of $4.2b by 2029, up from about $3.8b today.
- Elon Musk Eyes SpaceX-Tesla Merger, Huang Pitches ‘Financeable’ Chips, Zuckerberg Wants More Compute: Mag 7 Voices This Week
Elon Musk said a SpaceX–Tesla merger would be “a good idea,” but called a deal uncertain, as both companies’ boards have formed special committees that have not agreed on any terms. In SpaceX’s Q3 results, its Super Intelligence segment generated $7.6 billion in revenue, surpassing Starlink as its largest business. Musk said the main constraint on AI deployment is power, cooling and infrastructure rather than chips, and SpaceX plans to add about 20 gigawatts of capacity by the end of 2027, while some gas-turbine components face 12 to 18 month delays. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said its computing hardware should become a “financeable asset,” estimating that a one-gigawatt AI factory costs about $50 billion and could generate roughly $40 billion in annual revenue. Wedbush said his comments on neocloud financing helped spark Thursday’s selloff.
- Gold bar and gold ring prices this morning, October 24, at SJC, PNJ, DOJI, Bao Tin Minh Chau and Bao Tin Manh Hai
International gold prices fell below $4,000 an ounce as inflation expectations weighed on the market. On the morning of October 24, SJC, PNJ, DOJI and Bảo Tín Mạnh Hải quoted gold bars at 139–142 million VND per lượng, with all six brands surveyed selling at 142 million, though buy-in prices differed by up to 1.6 million. DOJI had the highest sell price for 9999 gold rings at 141.5 million VND per lượng, while SJC was lowest at 139 million. The University of Michigan's October consumer sentiment index reached 48 points, above the 46.3 forecast but nearly unchanged from last month, as inflation expectations kept rising. The article notes this could lift demand for gold as a store of value, but if inflation stays high, the Fed may keep policy tight and pressure precious metals.
- Trump signs executive order lowering housing costs
President Trump signed an executive order aimed at lowering housing costs ahead of the midterm elections, where inflation and affordability are key voter concerns. The order directs agencies to reduce mortgage costs, offer cheaper alternatives to title insurance, and support manufactured housing. The FHFA director must create a pilot program to proactively cancel mortgage insurance premiums for borrowers who meet equity requirements based on current market value. The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture must cut interest rates on their single-family home loans, and a multiagency task force will work on lowering building costs and improving manufactured homes. The move comes as the housing market slows and lending costs rise, with inflation at 3.7% last month and wage gains largely flat this year.
- Libyan parliament ratifies maritime deal with Türkiye , heightening war danger in Eastern Mediterranean
On October 20, Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives, which operates in the region controlled by General Khalifa Haftar, unanimously ratified the 2019 maritime delimitation memorandum with Türkiye and revoked its 2020 boycott of Ankara. It is the first time both rival Libyan administrations have recognized the memorandum, which draws a maritime zone that disregards the continental shelf and EEZ claims of Greek islands such as Crete and Rhodes, in an area estimated to contain oil and gas reserves worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Greece, Cyprus, the EU, Israel and Egypt have all objected, with Athens taking the issue to the UN Security Council and the EU calling the memorandum null and void, while Turkish media hailed it as a “diplomatic victory.” The first direct consequence is being felt in the Great Sea Interconnector cable project linking Greece, Cyprus and Israel, which has an EU grant of €657 million and costs approaching €3 billion.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.