Anonymousabout 1 hour ago
US household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q1 2026, driven by mortgage and auto loan growth, even as inflation climbed to 3.8% year-over-year. While aggregate delinquency rates remain manageable at 4.8%, a widening "K-shaped" divide between upper- and lower-income households reveals that the headline figure masks sharply divergent financial realities — with lower-income consumers increasingly reliant on high-interest revolving debt and student loan defaults surging to 2.6 million borrowers in a single quarter.