by Dennis Sevilla for ZoomInfo

The people who build the AI models spent this year buying something else entirely, and that tells you where they think the value really sits.

There has been more than $5 billion spent by AI giants OpenAI, Anthropic and others this year, all of it aimed at implementation.

ZoomInfo data says they aren’t the only ones. This report aims to give businesses something specific to act on, whether you sell AI, sell into the industries adopting it fastest, or you’re building your own stack.

It examines who else is making that bet, what they’re building on, and what it means for go-to-market (GTM) leaders.

What the announcements reveal

Four of the biggest names in AI spent this year committing capital to implementation.

Anthropic, with Blackstone, put $1.5 billion into a venture built entirely around getting AI working inside businesses. Microsoft stood up Frontier, $2.5 billion and 6,000 people who sit directly inside customer organizations. AWS committed $1 billion to a team that embeds engineers with clients. OpenAI is buying implementation firms outright to grow its own bench.

That’s more than $5 billion from the three companies that put a number on it, and all of it points in the same direction: The hard part is no longer building the actual AI model.

Model prices have fallen, and results haven’t followed, because what slows companies down sits in their data, their context, and their access to people who can connect the two. The AI giants have now priced that work at billions.

What the announcements don’t reveal

The announcements tell you that four companies made a decision. What they don’t tell you is who else is making it, what they’re building on, or where it’s moving fastest.

If value really is moving toward implementation, it should show up in two places within ZoomInfo data long before it reaches anyone’s revenue: what roles companies are hiring, and what technology they’re putting to work.

Three findings stand out.

1. There’s a significant hiring surge for engineers with Gen AI skills

ZoomInfo tracks hiring surges, the moments when a company suddenly opens far more roles in a department than it usually would, and this gives insight into the exact skills and tools those roles ask for.

The share of those surges demanding hands-on generative AI skills has climbed every quarter, from 5.9% at the end of 2025 to 7.6% by the middle of 2026. That’s roughly 1 in 13 surging companies today, against 1 in 17 six months ago.

Two-thirds of every surge tracked sat in engineering and technical teams, which shows what kind of work is being staffed.

While overall surge volume rose and fell across the period, as hiring always does, the AI-building share of it only went one way.

What that means for you: A generative AI hiring surge is a buying window that opens before procurement does. Budget has been signed off, a build has started, and the tooling decisions are still live. Most teams find these accounts months later, by which point the decision has been made, and somebody else is already in the room.

They’re hiring to build. The next question is what they’re building on.

2. What they’re building on changed inside six months

The same roles reveal which tools companies expect to build with.

Mentions of Claude in surge hiring went from 33 in Q4 2025 to 125 in Q2 2026. Close to four times as many in two quarters, and enough to make it the most requested AI tool in these roles.

Set aside which vendor is ahead for a moment. The really useful fact is that a leaderboard can move this far in six months. Whatever ranking you had in your head at the start of the year is already describing a different market.

Some context for why it moves so fast: The AI software market your buyers are choosing from runs to 1,492 vendors in ZoomInfo’s technology index, and 92% of them have exactly one product in it.

What that means for you: The tools named in a job description tell you which stack a company is committing to, and it tells you before the announcement, the case study or the press release. It also has a short shelf life. If your integration roadmap was set twelve months ago, it was built for a market that’s moved underneath it.

3. Adoption is up 38%, and the fastest growth is nowhere near Silicon Valley

The final signal is adoption: How many companies have actually put AI and machine learning technology into their stack?

ZoomInfo tracks 1,835 named AI and ML products, from major platform vendors to single-product specialists, across every business function from marketing to security. Adoption is up 38% in six months, measured from the end of 2025 to the middle of 2026.

The heaviest adopters are the firms doing the implementing. Custom software and IT services companies are adopting faster and in greater numbers than anyone else, up 52%. These are the firms that clients hire to run AI projects, and they’re buying the tooling before their clients do.

When thinking about your target list, consider that the fastest-growing adopters are old-economy industries:

What that means for you: Almost everyone selling AI right now is pointed at technology companies. That’s the most contested part of the market, and based on this data, it’s not the fastest-growing part.

What the hiring and adoption data says about where this lands

The giant announcements are a lagging indicator. Those decisions were taken months before anyone published anything, and by the time they did, hundreds of companies had reached the same conclusion. The giants actually announced it — you can only see everyone else by reading their job ads.

And there’s a second reading of the same numbers. The giants are buying implementation capability. Companies are hiring for implementation capability. Everyone with capital is bidding for the same scarce thing, and it’s people who can connect a model to a business.

The two signals also sit at different points on the same timeline. A hiring surge tells you a build is being staffed, which puts the company months away from having anything running. Adoption tells you the technology is already in the building. Treat them the same, and you’ll pitch a company months from being ready, or reach one that has already decided.

Both of them move ahead of revenue. A company hiring to build hasn’t bought yet. A company that’s just put AI technology into its stack hasn’t shown a return yet.

The concentration is really surprising. If this were simply a story about AI maturity, technology companies would lead it, but they don’t. The fastest movement is in construction, insurance, financial software and law, industries that don’t fit the usual picture of AI adoption.

What this actually means

If you sell AI, data or implementation services

Your target list could be pointed at the wrong industries. The list that looked obvious 18 months ago is now the one almost everyone selling AI is working. Construction is adopting at 72% growth, for example.

A job ad reaches you earlier than intent data. A company advertising for hands-on generative AI skills has already signed off on the budget and started building. Intent data picks them up later, once they start comparing vendors, by which point the requirements are usually set.

Read the tool names. The stack that a company names in its job descriptions is the stack it’s committing to. That list moved inside six months, so treat what you know about it as perishable. If your integration story was built around whichever tool led last year, check that it still matches what buyers are asking about.

If you sell into construction, insurance, legal or financial services

Your market is changing faster than the coverage suggests. These four are the fastest-growing adopters in the dataset, and that growth is already behind them rather than forecast ahead. If your account plans assume construction or insurance moves slowly on technology, those plans were written for a version of the market that has quite literally gone. The buyers you’ve been pacing yourself against have started moving, and they did it within the last six months.

The list is easier to win, and the play is harder to run. Fewer competitors are calling these accounts, which helps. The rest of it is that you are selling into different buying committees, longer cycles, and rooms with less AI literacy.

The capability pitch that lands in tech falls majorly flat here, because the question in the room is whether this works in a business like theirs. That means a named reference in their own industry does more than a feature list, and a first scope small enough to prove out in a quarter beats a transformation program nobody wants to sign for.

If you’re building your own GTM AI stack

The giants made your argument for you. The organizations with the best possible access to frontier models spent billions on the layer between the model and the business. If the people who build these systems think that’s where the difficulty lies, it’s worth taking seriously in your own planning.

Everyone can buy the same model. Your competitors have access to exactly what you have. What they don’t have is your first-party data: what your customers actually did, said and bought. The open question is whether it’s current enough and connected enough for an agent to act on it without someone checking the output first.

One question to take into planning. What would have to change for an agent to answer a live customer question using your data, with nobody verifying it beforehand? Whatever comes back on that list is the implementation work the giants just priced at billions.

The final word

An announcement tells you what one company has decided. It rarely tells you how many others reached the same conclusion without saying so, and that’s usually where the commercial opportunity sits.

Everything above came from tracking hiring surges and the adoption of 1,835 named AI and machine learning technologies between the end of 2025 and the middle of 2026, then reading the two together.

Four companies announced their investment. The rest of the market is doing the same, but in job postings that can be missed as a signal.

This story was produced by ZoomInfo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

More than $5 billion spent by AI giants this year is aimed at implementation was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Bobbi Rebell for Accredited Debt Relief

It’s that time of year. Fall in the air, and pumpkin everything is happening. Plans are being made for the big night, and costume brainstorming is starting to creep into more and more conversations at home. But the temptation is also ramping up. The candy aisle at the drugstore is calling to you with specials and sales, and somehow there seems to be more merch and opportunities to spend than you remember from years past. Your social media feed is filled with ideas for seasonal decorations that seem to be the new norm.

Halloween is the unofficial kickoff to some of the most wonderful traditions, and it can really make our minds work overtime with all the things we feel we should be doing for the season. But the cost of fun is creeping up right before our eyes. Who doesn’t love the anticipation of all the compliments we will get with our fantastic Halloween decor and treats? It’s all good, until the bill arrives.

So keep in mind that this is also the perfect time to set the pace for the rest of the year, and remind ourselves of our goals and priorities. Accredited Debt Relief offers some tips.

Key Takeaways

• Halloween spending is expected to average $115.14 per person this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
• To keep it from turning into holiday debt, set one total for October through New Year’s and give Halloween a specific slice.
• Pay with cash or a card you pay off in full each month. If the card already carries a balance, new purchases start accruing interest right away.

Halloween is the opening act of the holiday spending season, not a standalone event. Treating it as its own separate splurge is one of the easiest ways for a holiday budget to start leaking even before Thanksgiving arrives. The money you protect in October is money that is still there for you in December, when those holidays roll around.

Why does Halloween feel so much more expensive this year?

Part of that feeling is real. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2026 Halloween Survey, Americans are expected to spend about $115 per person, in line with last year, while total spending is expected to reach $13.5 billion, up from last year’s record $13.1 billion. About half of those surveyed (49%) planned to start shopping in September or earlier. In the same survey, 79% say they expect Halloween items to cost more this year, and they blame tariffs.

Also keep in mind that the social media pressure to perform is real. Those photos and videos we see scrolling through our feed may seem harmless and fun, but they also create an unconscious sense of what the “norm” is these days. Even though we may not even know the people posting that content, our perception changes. We measure our own Halloween against someone else’s highlight reel. At times, it may be a friend or neighbor. They may have different priorities, and different financial resources. We should respect their choices, and the fact that they may be in different financial situations. The key is to recognize that ours may be different, and to work to make choices that focus on the best use of our time and financial resources.

How can you enjoy Halloween trends without overspending?

How much should you budget?

Halloween is part of a series of holidays leading up to the New Year, so keep that in mind and consider a holiday season budget. From there you might want to work backwards from the holiday that you consider your priority. So if it is Christmas, make that allocation first. If

Halloween is your next priority, work through that, and so on. This way, it is an intentional and planned decision where you are in control and making deliberate choices from the start, and avoiding falling into the debt trap when December spending kicks in.

What about saving and spending strategies for Halloween?

Think carefully before you splurge on a costume. More often than you think, costumes can start with basics you already own. Spend money on one accent item to add to items you already own. For kids, get the conversation going on costume swaps or hand-me-downs with friends. Kids tend to outgrow costumes long before they wear out.

Decor has upleveled in the past few years, but be strategic before you load up the shopping cart. Will it be reusable? Do you have space to store it? Will you even remember that you own it when next year rolls around? Avoid trendy pieces that will feel dated. Don’t forget to check what you already have or can easily create yourself before you head to the store.

When you shop, consider discount stores and make sure to comparison shop. Dollar stores can have great deals on accessories, and local Buy Nothing groups may be giving away costumes and decorations.

The candy question: How much do you really need?

Most likely a lot less than you are planning to buy. Think about how many trick-or-treaters actually came to your house last year. Buy for that number and keep one backup bag. Check warehouse clubs for bulk candy deals.

If you run out late in the evening, it is OK to turn off the porch light or put up a sign saying you are all out, and wishing everyone a happy Halloween. You often can return unopened bags of candy, even if it is just for store credit. Check with the store before you buy.

What about the kids?

It’s one thing for an adult to understand budgets and limitations to spending. For kids who are seeing all the excitement around them, it is important to acknowledge that saying no to them is uncomfortable for parents, friends and family members.

That said, while you don’t have to say no to everything, Halloween is an opportunity to teach some financial grownup lessons and help them prioritize. For example, you can give them a set budget for their costume and let them decide how to spend it. It’s a real life money lesson in a low-stakes situation.

Should you put Halloween on a credit card or Buy Now, Pay Later?

If you aren’t carrying a balance on your credit card, it can be a solid payment tool, especially if you get rewards. The trouble starts if the card is already carrying a balance. If that happens, your new purchase is going to start accruing interest right away. That’s an expensive choice and one you don’t want. Buy Now, Pay Later can seem like a viable option, and it can be. But keep in mind that those small installment plans do tend to stack up as the holiday season continues and it can be easy to lose track of what you have signed up for and the debt can pile up.

What if you put Halloween costs on a card that you are already struggling to pay off?

First, take a deep breath and recognize that this is information and your job is to use that information to create options. Understanding where you are is an important first stop to finding solutions. The key is to avoid the temptation to fall into the mindset of spending without thinking because the budget is already blown. In other words, hit pause and get intentional before you get into sloppy spending.

Next, think carefully about getting outside help. A 2026 survey of 2,000 adults with unsecured debt from Accredited Debt Relief found that 37% say they haven’t told their children the full extent of what they owe. Halloween is a low-stakes time to practice sharing with them something like “We spent more than we planned on Halloween, so Thanksgiving is going to be simpler this year.” Many parents don’t want to let their kids down, or know that they have money limitations. In fact just the opposite is true: letting kids know that money should be spent intentionally and that there are consequences to overspending is a healthy conversation and important for kids to hear.

Frequently asked questions about Halloween spending

What is the cheapest way to do Halloween with kids?

Focus on traditions that cost little or nothing. Start an annual Halloween costume swap/hand-me-down exchange. Carve pumpkins at home. Go trick-or-treating in your own neighborhood. Look for community fall festivals or downtowns that offer trick-or-treating at local stores.

When is the best time to buy Halloween candy and decorations?

Buy candy close enough to Halloween that it doesn’t get eaten before the trick-or-treaters arrive, and buy decorations right after Halloween if you have room to store them. It’s not just about price! Compare prices at discount and warehouse stores. If you shop for decor before Halloween, the best selection will usually go fast, so weigh that along with price. Getting a deal on something you don’t really like is no deal. Be selective and intentional if you must buy something, but consider Buy Nothing groups, thrift stores and discount stores to find hidden treasures.

How do I keep Halloween from ruining my holiday budget?

Treat it as part of the entire holiday season, not a separate event. Set one total amount for October through New Year’s and then give Halloween a specific slice. If you go over, you need to adjust for what is coming, and avoid falling into the trap of blowing the whole budget.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

How to enjoy Halloween without the debt hangover was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Bobbi Rebell for Accredited Debt Relief

Email inboxes are already filling up with gift suggestions for the holidays. It may be hard to resist clicking on those links and going down the rabbit hole as you imagine all the smiles and warm feelings giving the perfect gift will bring.

That feeling is real, and it is part of why the holidays are so much fun. But it is also how budgets disappear. It’s not one big splurge (although that can also happen), but many small moments spent lingering on a purchase link and convincing yourself that the holidays are reason enough to “click” the buy button.

Retailers make it so easy. But then the elation deflates in January when the credit card bill comes due, and it looks nothing like the budget you set back in the fall. Accredited Debt Relief dives into what to do about it, but first, it helps to see how common this is.

How Many People Expect to Go Into Debt Over the Holidays?

Unfortunately, if this sounds familiar, you are in good company. According to an October 2025 American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) survey, 47% of people expected to go into debt that holiday season. That number jumped to 64% among adults under 35. And 39% say they have felt real regret over past holiday overspending. A quarter of people who do make a holiday budget ahead of time do so, admitting that they probably won’t stick to that budget. They admit defeat before the season even gets underway.

7 Rules for Holiday Spending

A plan is the missing piece. Here’s a framework for closing that gap, in the order you’ll need each rule.

1. Pick a headline number. Choose a number for the entire season as early as possible, ideally before you even start browsing. For example, you might decide that you are going to limit your holiday spending to between 1% and 1.5% of your annual income. Having a number decided on in advance that is well thought out and that you have made peace with will serve as guardrails to keep spending in line throughout the holidays.
2. Budget for all the holidays, not just your holidays or the big holidays. People tend to focus on the holidays that are important to their community, whether it be religious or cultural observances. They may home in on one or two big holidays that are important to them but be less aware of spending for secondary holidays that are important to relatives, friends and neighbors. Holidays that pop up can have just as much impact on budgets as those people plan for.
3. Gifts are just a slice of the pie. Spending on gifts may be a big part of your budget, but don’t overlook where a lot of money also goes. That can often include traveling to friends and family, or hosting them and all that entails. It can also include wrapping paper, cards, extra groceries for holiday meals, decorations and of course various Secret Santa and white elephant gifts that are expected at work and with friend groups. They may not feel like holiday spending because you aren’t actively purchasing a gift, but they need to be in your budget.
4. Pay with the money you have, not the money you hope to have. Given that 79% of people are planning to use a credit card and over a third consider using buy now, pay later, according to a May 2026 Accredited Debt Relief survey, it may be worth asking yourself honestly whether you are financing the holidays and not paying for them. If you are charging more than you can pay, splitting it into future payments extends the spending well into the spring. Is that the best use of your future money?
5. Decide: What is your debt breaking point? If you already know that you will be carrying debt into the new year, avoid denial and pretending it won’t happen. Honesty with yourself is hard, but it can take away anxiety and stress if you accept that you need a plan. Decide how much debt you are willing to carry and for how long. Figure out an actual payoff date, so you can be proactive not reactive.
6. Have a plan for what you will do if you do hit your budget limit before you are done gift shopping. It can happen even with the best intentions. This goes back to the important concept of self-honesty. Be prepared to look at what is left on your list and decide what can be handled differently or scaled back. That might mean getting creative with a homemade gift, or a note scheduling a shared experience that you can save for gradually. As an example, rather than giving a gift certificate to a treatment at a spa that you pay for now, make a nice personalized card promising to go to the spa together later in the winter or spring.
7. Debrief in January, and set up systems for next year’s holiday fund. The people who will feel the most calm about the holidays aren’t necessarily the ones who never overspend. They are the ones who look back honestly at what actually happened and then set up a small automatic transfer starting in January. That way December isn’t a last-minute scramble to find the money to pay for the holidays.

Holiday Spending FAQs

What if you are already in a spending pinch?

The first thing to keep in mind is that you are far from alone. The awareness of the precarious situation is a big step moving you in the right direction. Regret and frustration about money are common feelings during the season, and they are often buried just beneath the surface of smiles and holiday cheer. The goal now isn’t to second-guess every purchase or feel like a failure because you don’t have the financial resources to buy everything you want to have for your friends and family. Stop and reassess before you spend anything else. Look at what is left of the season and put in clear protections and guardrails for what you do have left. Understand where you will be financially, even if it isn’t a pretty picture. Seeing and accepting reality is often less stressful than avoiding it and imagining the worst.

What percentage of your income should go to holiday spending?

There’s no single right number, but a common benchmark to keep in mind would be roughly 1%-1.5% of annual income for the whole season. That includes gifts, food and travel expenses. That said, you are your own economy of one, and you should proactively think about what is the right number for you. What matters most is thoughtfully picking a number in advance and treating it as a real ceiling rather than a vague suggestion.

Is it bad to put holiday spending on a credit card?

It depends. If it is making it too easy to spend more than you intended, then yes, credit cards are not the best choice. Keep in mind that if you don’t pay off the balance when the bill arrives, it will turn into new, often high-interest debt. However, if you can pay the balance off, and there are rewards like cash back, using a credit card can be a smart move.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

A financial planner’s 7 rules for holiday spending was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Anna Caldwell for Accredited Debt Relief

Housing is typically thought of as a fixed, non-negotiable bill, the one expense that gets paid before anything else. New survey data suggests that for a meaningful share of Americans, it isn’t being paid outright at all. It’s being financed.

In a 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt, conducted by Atomik Research for Accredited Debt Relief, 33% said they had used a credit card or borrowed money to cover rent or housing costs in the past year.

Housing Joins the List of Bills Going on Credit

Housing is one of several essential expenses now being covered with credit. Groceries led at 66%, followed by gas or transportation at 47% and utilities at 45%. At roughly 1 in 3, rent or housing costs sit alongside them.

The discretionary spending isn’t what’s going on the card. Asked separately what they’d put on hold because of their debt, respondents named taking a vacation more often than anything else, at 41%, followed by building savings at 40%. The trips are being cancelled. It’s the groceries and the housing payments that are being financed.

Why Charging Housing Is Different

Most landlords and mortgage servicers don’t accept credit cards directly, so people who pay this way typically go through a third-party platform that charges a processing fee. Others take a cash advance, which usually carries a higher interest rate than regular purchases and starts accruing interest immediately.

Either route makes the payment cost more than the number on the lease. And because housing is a large and recurring cost, a balance built this way grows faster than one built from occasional purchases.

Debt Payments Are Competing With the Bills

Asked what they’d done in the past 12 months in order to make a debt payment, respondents in Accredited Debt Relief’s Debt Impact Survey, conducted by Drive Research, described cutting into essentials: 45% had cut back on groceries or household essentials, 25% had skipped or delayed a utility payment and 16% had skipped or delayed rent or mortgage.

That reverses the usual framing. It isn’t only that everyday costs create debt. Existing debt payments are also displacing everyday costs, including the ones people protect most carefully. Nearly half, 49%, said they’re living paycheck to paycheck because of their debt payments, and 31% are making minimum payments without seeing the balance move.

What It Means When Housing Goes on Credit

There’s a long-standing principle in household budgeting that rent eats first. Housing is fixed, it’s essential, and the consequences of missing it are severe, so it gets paid before groceries, before savings, before anything discretionary.

That principle hasn’t gone anywhere. What’s changed is where the money comes from. When a household covers housing with credit, rent is still eating first, but it’s eating money the household doesn’t have yet.

Individual circumstances vary, and a survey can’t account for all of them. But housing is the expense people protect most carefully, so reaching for credit to cover it suggests income alone isn’t stretching far enough to meet basic costs for an increasing number of people.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Using credit cards to pay rent: What new survey data shows was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Bobbi Rebell for Accredited Debt Relief

Credit card debt can be exhausting. It can feel like a treadmill. You are moving. You are making payments every month. You are likely sweating over it. You are actively working at getting to your goal. And yet the scenery never changes and as much as you think you should be making progress, you still find yourself in the same place.

You are right to be getting tired and frustrated. The numbers aren’t adding up the way they should be given your effort. But you have some credit card habits that are taking a bigger toll on you than you realize. Many of them may be things you perceive as ways to just get by with what life costs, or solutions to getting to the next paycheck. But the real cost may be a lot more amplified than normal, in part because of the debt you are already carrying.

Credit card interest typically compounds daily, not monthly once you are carrying a balance. So just like compounding can be magical to the upside when you are saving and investing, it can be toxic and soul crushing when it is working against you. That’s why these seemingly small habits can derail your best efforts to climb out of debt, Accredited Debt Relief reports.

The Habits Holding You Back, Ranked

1. Taking a cash advance. As much as “cash is king,” a cash advance is trouble. It may seem less harmful than taking on more credit card debt, but it can add up a lot faster than people realize. First there is often an upfront fee that can be as high as 5%. Next, you will likely be paying a high interest rate just like a credit card. But there’s more: Unlike credit cards, if you don’t have debt on them when you make the purchase, cash advances start charging interest right away. There is no grace period. Interest starts adding up immediately as soon as the cash is in your account. That is expensive.

2. Paying only the minimum on your credit card every month. Paying on time, even if it is just the minimum, is essential to keep your credit score intact. But too many new credit card holders, including young people, aka emerging financial grownups, confidently say that is what is “due,” and pay only the minimum without knowing the true cost. Real financial grownups know that the minimum will barely cover the interest on the credit card. There is no material progress on the credit card balance. So the balance grows, even though you are paying on time.

3. Paying a higher APR because of a penalty or your credit score. Refer back to #2. Paying on time is everything. If you pay late, it hurts your credit. If your credit goes down, your interest rate often goes up. This is where it can pay off to be pro-active. Be prepared and polite and get in touch with your credit card issuer. The higher rate can be adjusted downward, but you may have to ask and it may take time.

4. Not hitting pause on new charges. Continuing to charge new purchases while carrying a balance is going to cost you big time. If you aren’t carrying a balance, when you charge something, you don’t start paying interest until after the bill is due and not paid in full. However, if there is an ongoing balance, the interest kicks in the minute that charge hits. The interest starts accruing immediately instead of the usual 21-day interest free days you get when you aren’t carrying a balance.

5. Using one credit card to pay another, and on repeat. Unless you are doing a clean balance transfer with a 0% promotional window and a real structured payoff plan, it can cost you more than you may realize. There are almost always fees attached, and it isn’t doing anything to reduce the balance. It may feel as though you cleared the deck, but really you have just shifted the burden, and paid to do so.

6. Letting rewards and sign up bonuses influence decisions. Cash back feels like free money, and points can make you feel like you are achieving something. In some sense you are: You may be getting better seats on an airplane or lounge access when you travel. But sadly, these rewards are far from free. Paying interest at typical credit card rates is far more expensive than any perk you are getting. Think about the math: carrying a balance at 24% so you can get a generous 3% cash back will never add up.

7. Paying attention to the wrong numbers. The total balance may feel overwhelming. Naturally, it makes sense to gravitate toward the more manageable number: the minimum balance. When you focus on the minimum amount due, you tend to lose sight of the more critical numbers: the total amount due, the APR and interest rate, as well as how much of the payment you are making is actually going towards the principal and freeing you from the debt.

The Worst Credit Card Habit of All: Staying Silent About Your Debt

If you recognize any of these habits in yourself, or in someone you care about, you are not alone. It can feel lonely, but in fact these habits are more common than we realize. Keeping it quiet and under the radar is perhaps the worst habit of all. Even if you do the math and understand what is going on in terms of the numbers, credit card debt is often tied to behaviour and habits that have been part of our life for a long time, including keeping it secret. It is a very normal instinct as we try to get through our daily lives to simply reach for our credit card to pay for things instead of planning ahead and creating new systems.

Hitting pause and getting support can help cut through the chaos of daily life.

FAQ’s about Credit Card Debt Habits

Why did my interest go up even though I paid on time? A late payment, even from several months back, or an unrelated drop in your credit score, can trigger a higher APR as a penalty. That can stick around even if your payment history is back on track. It is worth calling your card issuer to ask about getting it adjusted back down. You have nothing to lose.

Does a cash advance hurt more than buying something? Yes. Cash advances often come with upfront fees of up to 5%. They also tend to have higher interest rates than a regular purchase. The real killer here is that there is no grace period so interest starts adding up the minute the cash hits your account.

What’s the absolute worst credit card habit when you’re trying to pay off debt? It’s not what you do or what you say, it is what you don’t do and what you don’t say. It’s staying quiet about it. Every habit on this list gets worse the longer it goes unaddressed, and silence is what lets a fixable problem quietly turn into an unmanageable one.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

7 credit card habits that make your debt worse, ranked by damage level was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Molly Simon for Accredited Debt Relief

They have the same amount of debt. But why do they feel so differently about it? While 53% of men say their financial situation is sustainable long term, only 39% of women say the same, according to Accredited Debt Relief’s 2026 Everyday Debt Survey

The 14-point spread is one of the widest demographic splits in the survey, which polled 2,000 U.S. adults through Atomik Research. The same pattern turns up in questions about monthly cash flow and emotional strain — in each case women reported the tighter squeeze.

Key Takeaways

• 53% of men say their finances are sustainable long term, vs. 39% of women.
• 34% of men can cover monthly expenses and still save, vs. 21% of women.
• 17% of women call their debt overwhelming — nearly double the 9% of men.

The Gap Widens After the Bills Are Paid

Thirty-four percent of men said they can cover their monthly expenses and still set money aside. Among women, that figure was 21%.

Covering the bills and getting ahead are two different financial realities. A household that breaks even every month has no cushion when something goes wrong, so a car repair, a medical bill or a two-week gap between paychecks lands on a credit card. A household with even a few hundred dollars in reserve pays the same bill and adds nothing to its balances. Over a year, that difference compounds into two very different debt loads.

Nationally, the cushion has not been growing. The Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, published in May 2026, found that 55% of adults had enough set aside to cover three months of expenses, unchanged from 2024 and down from 59% in 2021. Sixty-three percent said they could cover an unexpected $400 expense with cash or its equivalent, also unchanged. Averages like those hide the gaps underneath them, and this survey found one.

Where the Pressure Shows Up

Seventeen percent of women called their debt overwhelming, compared with 9% of men — nearly twice the rate.

The survey did not measure whether women carry larger balances than men, only how differently the two groups describe living with what they owe. That distinction matters for anyone reading their own situation into these numbers. Feeling underwater is not evidence of a bigger balance. It is often evidence of a smaller margin.

What’s Behind the Split

Earnings are the obvious place to start. Among full-time, year-round workers, women earned 80.9 cents for every dollar men earned in 2024, according to Census Bureau data released in September 2025. An identical debt payment takes a larger bite out of a smaller paycheck, which leaves less room to save and less reason to expect the arrangement to hold.

And the budget gets even tighter for caregivers. The Federal Reserve’s 2025 household survey found that care for children and adults who need assistance falls disproportionately on women, and that mothers of children under 13 were much more likely than fathers to say they were the primary caretaker even when both parents worked. That’s reflected in employment patterns: 71% of prime-age women were working for pay in 2025, a rate the Fed attributes in part to the expense of being a caretaker.

But no matter why the debt exists or how you feel about it, the goal remains the same for everyone: to become debt-free.

What to Do Next

Financial counselors generally recommend building a small emergency fund, even a few hundred dollars, alongside debt payments rather than after them. The buffer is what keeps the next unexpected expense from turning into new debt.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes debt “unsustainable”?

There is no single threshold. Common warning signs include making only minimum payments, using credit cards for essentials such as groceries or utilities, borrowing to cover other debt payments and having no savings to absorb an unexpected cost.

What kinds of debt can a debt relief program help with?

Eligible debts include credit cards, personal loans, medical bills and some private student loans. Mortgages and home equity loans, auto loans, federal student loans, tax debt and child support or alimony are not eligible.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Same debt, different outlook: Men and women experience debt differently, survey finds was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Molly Simon for Accredited Debt Relief

Some school expenses get delayed. Some get financed. And some get canceled — a season, a club, a trip a kid was counting on.

That last group is bigger than most parents realize. Accredited Debt Relief’s back-to-school survey of more than 1,000 parents of K-12 students found that 19% kept a child out of an activity because of the cost. It’s the one cut that never shows up on a credit card statement, and research going back decades suggests cutting activities does more than save money — it could potentially narrow your child’s opportunities in the long-term.

Key Takeaways

• 19% of parents kept a child out of an activity because of school-related costs, and 76% made at least one financial trade-off.
• 60% of parents are carrying school-related debt, and 54% are still paying it down when holiday shopping begins.
• 86% of parents who already owe $1,000 or more still plan to spend at least $1,000 per child this fall.

Cutting an Activity Is the Trade-Off Parents Make Last

Three-quarters of parents surveyed, 76%, said school costs forced at least one financial trade-off. Most start with the changes that are easiest to make: 29% made minimum-only credit card payments, 28% postponed savings or debt payoff and 26% delayed a bill. Those are the same moves people reach for first when they’re paying down debt on a tight budget.

But some parents had to find even more room in their budgets to cover costs. A quarter of parents cut back on groceries or utilities, and 19% kept a child out of an activity.

Cutting an extracurricular can free up a significant amount of money. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play found that the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on one child’s primary sport in 2024, a 46% increase since 2019. All in, parents pay about $1,500 to cover a year’s worth of sports-related costs.

By the time parents are weighing taking their kid out of a sport or band trip for financial reasons, they have usually already tried everything easier. And the long-term impact of those hard choices on children is something researchers have spent decades tracking.

You Can Play if You Can Pay

An analysis published in the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science examined four national longitudinal surveys of American high school students and documented a sharp increase in the class gap in extracurricular involvement. Since the 1970s, upper-middle-class students have grown more active in school clubs and sports teams. Participation among working-class students moved the opposite direction.

The authors tie that split to three forces arriving together: rising income inequality, the spread of pay-to-play programs and the growing investment of time and money upper-middle-class parents can afford to their children’s development. And there’s a reason wealthier families choose to make that investment: There’s evidence that it betters a child’s outcomes as they grow.

Participation Is Linked to Better Grades and Stronger Social Skills

The University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy found that higher-income youth are roughly one and a half times as likely to participate in extracurricular activities as their lower-income peers. Consistent participation, the report notes, is linked to improved academic achievement and prosocial behaviors, and the activities keep adolescents engaged during high-risk hours.

It’s a system that creates a feedback loop, too. Many schools set a minimum GPA before a student can join a school-sponsored activity. When lower-income students have lower academic achievement, their opportunity to participate shrinks — and because participation is linked to better grades, sitting out can pull achievement down further.

Parents can’t easily make up a season their child missed — but there are ways to keep kids in the activities that matter to them.

Keeping Kids Involved on a Budget

Per the survey, 60% of parents carry school-related debt now, and 54% are still paying off back-to-school expenses once holiday shopping begins. Among parents who already owe $1,000 or more, 86% still plan to spend at least $1,000 per child this fall.

But some programs might be more flexible about costs than others. Talk to your school, coaches and local community groups about ways to reduce extracurricular costs. A few things worth doing before the next registration deadline:

• Ask about fee waivers. Many districts and nonprofit leagues keep hardship funds or sliding-scale rates, but families usually have to ask for them.
• Ask about a payment plan. Splitting a fee across the season costs nothing and keeps the charge off a credit card.
• Buy equipment used. League swap nights, secondhand sporting goods stores and team hand-me-downs cover most of what a beginner needs.
• Choose the school or rec version first. A child can find out whether they love a sport without a club roster fee.
• Skip the optional travel. Tournament weekends, hotel blocks and out-of-state showcases are the fastest way to double a season’s cost.

Those choices can bring a $1,000 sport down to a couple hundred dollars.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it worth borrowing to keep my child in an activity?

Consistent participation is linked to stronger academic outcomes, so the instinct to protect it is well founded. What’s harder to see is what that fee costs you if you carry it for years. Before the next one comes due, review the free debt help resources available to you and find out what your options are.

Why doesn’t my balance move even though I pay every month?

It’s a known pattern, sometimes called the minimum payment trap. Minimum payments are calculated to cover accrued interest first, so at 22.15% only a small share of what you send each month reduces what you actually owe. Changing the structure of the debt tends to do more than raising your payment by a few dollars.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Debt can impact kids’ futures more than you’d think: Here’s how was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Anna Caldwell for Accredited Debt Relief

Credit cards were once reserved for emergencies or big purchases. For a growing share of Americans, they’ve become the default way to pay for groceries.

A 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt, conducted by Atomik Research for Accredited Debt Relief, found that 66% have used a credit card to cover the cost of groceries in the past year — more than any other everyday expense. Gas or transportation followed at 47%, utilities at 45%, and rent or housing costs at 33%.

Not an Occasional Habit

For most respondents, this isn’t a rare workaround. Forty-two percent say they regularly use a credit card or borrowed money to cover essentials like groceries, gas, or utilities, and another 29% do so occasionally — meaning roughly 7 in 10 people lean on credit for basic costs at least some of the time.

A separate Accredited Debt Relief survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with unsecured debt, conducted by Drive Research, found a similar pattern from a different angle: Among people carrying credit card debt, 70% say the majority of their current balance came from ordinary day-to-day expenses like groceries, gas, and utilities — not from overspending or large purchases. Only 23% pointed to a large planned purchase, such as a car or vacation, as the main driver.

Renters Feel It Most

The pattern is even more pronounced among renters. In the Drive Research survey, 72% of renters said everyday expenses — the highest share of any group measured — were the main reason their credit card balance grew, compared to 70% of respondents overall.

The Trade-Off Shows Up at the Grocery Store, Too

The reliance on credit for groceries cuts both ways. To keep up with debt payments over the past year, 45% of respondents in the Drive Research survey said they had cut back on necessities like groceries or household essentials — the single most common sacrifice reported. Among teachers specifically, that figure rose to 54%.

Taken together, the two surveys describe a cycle: Credit cards cover the grocery bill when income falls short, and then groceries are often the first thing cut back on to make the resulting credit card payment.

Methodology

Figures are drawn from two Accredited Debt Relief surveys: the 2026 Everyday Debt Survey (Atomik Research, 2,000 U.S. adults with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt, fielded May 11–14, 2026) and the 2026 Debt Impact Survey (Drive Research, 2,000 U.S. adults with unsecured debt, published June 2026). Both carry a margin of error of approximately ±2% at a 95% confidence level.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Groceries have become America’s most common gateway into credit card debt was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Bobbi Rebell for Accredited Debt Relief

Dropping a child off for freshman year at college and officially becoming empty nesters is the kind of milestone that sneaks up on parents even when you’ve had a lifetime of warning. Looking ahead to the milestones still to come as children move further into adulthood, one that most parents don’t give much thought to is the day your adult child asks you to co-sign for something.

Co-signing means you’re legally and financially responsible for someone else’s debt if they can’t pay it. It stays on your credit report and counts against your own borrowing power, whether or not your child ever misses a payment.

Maybe it’s their first apartment lease. Maybe it’s a car loan, a private student loan or a credit card to start building credit from scratch. Whatever the ask is, the instinct for a lot of parents is to treat it purely as a financial risk calculation: a spreadsheet decision about exposure and liability. And it is that. But as Accredited Debt Relief explains below, there’s more to consider.

Why do banks ask parents to co-sign?

Banks require a co-signer because most young adults have “thin” credit files, meaning they haven’t had time to build a credit history and often have limited income as well. Without a financial track record, lenders are unable to assess the risk of lending to a young borrower on their own, so they ask for a creditworthy adult, typically a parent, to fill that gap. At the end of the day, it’s a risk assessment, not a character judgment.

That said, being asked to co-sign and being in a position to co-sign are two different things. Many parents are still paying down their own debt, working with a fixed income or planning for expenses of their own. Taking on this obligation isn’t realistic for everyone.

Before moving forward, ask yourself: Is this a sensible financial decision for my finances? And if the answer is no, that’s not the end of the conversation. It’s a chance to show your adult child what it looks like to make a clear-eyed financial call and to talk honestly about why, which is its own kind of lesson. If the answer is yes, here’s the framework for parents to follow before signing anything.

5 Steps to Take Before You Co-Sign for Your Adult Child

A Framework for Making Your Decision

None of this means you should co-sign for everything or that emotion should override financial judgment.

1. Understand exactly what you’re on the hook for. Read the actual terms. If your child misses a payment, is the servicer coming after you immediately or only after a grace period? Is this a joint account that will show up on your credit report every month, for better or worse? Know the worst-case scenario in dollars, not just in theory.

2. Ask the lender about a co-signer release before you commit. Many lenders, especially for private student loans and some auto loans, offer a co-signer release, a provision that removes your name from the loan after your child has made a set number of on-time payments, often 12 to 24 months. This is one of the most overlooked conversations. Ask the lender directly: What’s the path to remove me from this loan once my kid has established their own track record? If there isn’t one, that changes your calculus.

3. Run the real numbers on your own finances. Co-signing affects your debt-to-income ratio, which can matter if you’re planning to buy a home, refinance or take out any credit of your own in the near future. This isn’t about not trusting your kid; it’s about modeling healthy financial behaviors that ensure you’re not overextended if you need to borrow for something of your own down the line.

4. Have the money conversation before you have the signing conversation. This is where the financial planning and the family conversation merge. Talk through what happens if a job loss or a rough patch causes a late payment. Talk through who else might factor into this: a partner or spouse who will be sharing the apartment, the car or the bills. And think ahead to your other children, too. Your kids won’t necessarily have the same level of financial maturity or reliability, but they will absolutely notice if you back one sibling and not another. They will expect to be treated equally when it’s their turn, whether or not they’re equally ready for it. These family money conversations feel uncomfortable in the moment, but skipping them tends to create real division later, when a missed payment or a perceived double standard turns a financial decision into a lasting grievance.

5. Decide in advance how you’ll handle a missed payment and say it out loud. Will you cover it and let your kid pay you back? Will you let it go to your credit and have a hard conversation? Deciding this ahead of time together removes the guesswork and the resentment if it ever actually happens.

What If You’re Already Carrying Debt?

Carrying debt doesn’t automatically disqualify you from cosigning, but it changes the math and may create uncomfortable conversations with your kids that you need to be prepared to have.

First, it may weaken the very thing you’re offering. Lenders weigh your debt-to-income ratio, credit utilization and income. If you’re already carrying significant balances, your co-signature might not move the needle much on approval or terms, even as it still puts your name and credit on the line. It might be worth asking the lender directly what your signature would actually add.

Second, cosigning adds a new point of exposure right when you have the least room to absorb one. A missed payment lands differently on a parent with financial slack than on one who’s already stretched thin by debt.

Before you offer, take a clear look at your own debt. If your own debt load is the reason you’re hesitating, that’s worth addressing on its own terms, separate from the cosigning decision.

The Conversations Co-Signing Opens Up

This particular financial grown-up moment rarely stays just financial. Once you’re sitting across from your kid talking through a lease or a loan, you’re suddenly having the bigger conversations too: about their partner or roommate, about how they’re budgeting, about what “adulting” actually looks like day to day. It’s one of the more natural on-ramps to real money conversations with your adult children, precisely because there’s a concrete document in front of you instead of an abstract “let’s talk about your finances” invitation that most twenty-somethings will dodge.

And if it doesn’t make sense to co-sign, that conversation also has value. It’s not a bad thing for adult kids to understand that their parents also face financial challenges and that there are strategies and solutions that work. Understanding that what they are going through is normal can make it that much easier for them to be candid with parents when they face financial stress and anxiety. They know you “get it” and have been there before. They know that while you believe in them, you are not expected to be perfect, because no one is.

It can also be a genuine bonding moment, and one of the more quietly rewarding parts of watching your children become adults.

It’s About the Family Ecosystem

When you co-sign for your child, you’re not just extending trust downward; you’re reinforcing a family culture that says you show up for each other. Someday, in some form, you may need your adult child to show up for you, too, whether that’s a financial ask or simply being present. You’re not keeping score. But you are modeling what it looks like when family supports family. That lesson tends to outlast whatever loan or lease prompted it.

Co-signing is a big milestone, and it should feel like one for both of you. Your kid gets a real step toward financial independence and a credit history to build on. You get to watch them take it, knowing you helped make it possible. And somewhere in there, you get to feel needed in exactly the way parents of newly independent adults often crave. It’s not a contradiction to feel proud of your child’s growing independence and glad they still need you for something. That’s not a loss of your role as a parent. It’s a new version of it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Co-Signing

Does co-signing for your adult child affect your credit?

Applying to co-sign usually triggers a hard inquiry, causing a small, temporary dip in your score. Once approved, the loan shows up on your credit report as your obligation. It counts toward your debt-to-income ratio and your available credit, which can affect your ability to borrow later. If your child pays on time, it can actually help both of you. If they don’t, the late payments land on your report too.

Can you be removed from a loan after co-signing?

Sometimes. Many private student loans and some auto loans include a co-signer release, which removes your name after the primary borrower makes a set number of consecutive on-time payments, often 12 to 24 months. Not every lender offers one, so ask before you sign.

What happens if my child misses a payment on a loan I co-signed?

The lender can pursue you for the full balance, and in many cases, they can do it immediately rather than waiting out a grace period. The missed payment is reported on your credit as well as theirs. This is why it’s worth deciding in advance together whether you’ll cover a missed payment or let it stand.

How do I say no to co-signing without damaging the relationship?

Be specific about the reason rather than vague about the answer. Explaining that the obligation would affect your own debt-to-income ratio or your plans for the next few years helps turn a rejection into a real financial lesson. You can also offer alternatives: helping with a security deposit, reviewing their budget together or looking into a secured credit card so they can build history on their own.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is provided as a general resource and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. For guidance specific to your situation, consider consulting a qualified professional.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

5 steps to take before you co-sign for your adult child was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Anna Caldwell for Accredited Debt Relief

Most people don’t set out to accumulate $100,000 in debt. It just happens. A mortgage here, a car payment there, a few months of leaning on credit cards, and suddenly the balance is overwhelming.

Debt is one of those topics most people avoid talking about, which makes it easy to assume you’re the only one struggling. But you’re not. Knowing how your debt compares to others can help you spot what’s manageable, what’s worth prioritizing and where you might need outside help.

Here’s what the numbers look like across each major debt category.

• Total U.S. household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025, per the New York Fed.
• The average American household carries $104,755 in total debt, per Experian.
• Mortgage balances account for roughly 70% of all household debt at $13.17 trillion, according to the New York Fed.
• The average credit card balance is $6,523 per borrower, with APRs averaging 19.57%, per TransUnion and Bankrate.
• The average auto loan balance is $24,602, with new car payments averaging $748/month, per TransUnion and Experian.
• The average student loan borrower owes between $37,400 and $43,300, per Education Data Initiative.
• About 77% of Americans carry some form of debt, and delinquency rates are at their highest since 2017, per the Federal Reserve Board and New York Fed.

Total American Household Debt

Total U.S. household debt reached $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025, according to the New York Federal Reserve, a record high. When you spread that across American borrowers, Experian puts the average American household debt at $104,755 as of mid-2025.

Those numbers reflect something important: Debt is a near-universal experience. About 77% of Americans carry some form of debt, according to the Federal Reserve Board . That means if you’re managing multiple balances or feel stretched thin by payments, you’re far from alone.

For many households, debt isn’t a sign of poor decisions. It’s the result of navigating rising costs, major life milestones and an economy that increasingly runs on credit. And while carrying a balance is common, every type of debt comes with its own risks.

The U.S. National Debt vs. Household Debt

The two figures often get conflated in headlines, but they measure completely separate things.

Average American Mortgage Debt

According to the New York Fed’s Q4 2025 report, total mortgage balances stand at $13.17 trillion, roughly 70% of all household debt in the country.

On an individual level, TransUnion puts the average mortgage balance at $268,060, with a median monthly payment of approximately $2,025 as of December 2025, per the Mortgage Bankers Association. Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) have also climbed for 15 consecutive quarters, reaching $434 billion as of Q4 2025, according to the New York Fed.

A mortgage is often called “good debt” because it builds equity and typically carries lower interest rates than other loan types. But for homeowners also carrying unsecured debt, the combined monthly obligations can create real cash-flow stress.

Average American Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt is where many Americans feel the most financial pressure, and it’s easy to see why. Total credit card balances hit $1.28 trillion in Q4 2025, according to the New York Fed. The average American credit card debt per borrower was $6,523 in Q3 2025, per TransUnion.

What makes credit card debt particularly costly is the interest rate attached to it. With average APRs at 19.57% as of April 2026 ( per Bankrate.com), paying only the minimum can extend your debt timeline by years.

Average American Auto Loan Debt

Auto loans now rank as the third-largest household debt category in the U.S. Total auto loan balances reached $1.67 trillion in Q4 2025, according to the New York Fed. Experian’s Q3 2025 data puts the average American auto loan balance at $24,602.

Monthly payments reflect how much car costs have risen in recent years. The average new car payment was $748 per month in Q4 2025, while the average used car payment was $532 per month, according to Experian. Interest rates have added to the burden: New car APRs averaged 6.36% while used car loans averaged 11.40% in Q3 2025, per Experian Automotive data.

Longer loan terms, such as 72- and 84-month agreements, have become more common as dealers try to make high sticker prices feel manageable month to month. The tradeoff is that borrowers often end up paying significantly more in interest over the life of the loan.

Average Student Loan Debt in America

Student loan debt affects more than 43 million Americans, and the balances are significant. As of early 2026, the average borrower carries between $37,400 and $43,300 in student loan debt, according to Education Data Initiative and Investopedia analyses of 2024–2025 data.

Repayment hasn’t always kept pace with those balances. Starting in Q1 2025, previously unreported missed federal student loan payments began appearing in credit reports. The serious delinquency rate jumped sharply as a result, reaching 7.74% of aggregate student debt, according to the New York Fed.

Student loan debt remains one of the most complex and fast-changing pieces of the household debt picture.

How Debt Varies by Generation

Debt doesn’t look the same at every stage of life. Experian’s data shows average consumer debt varies widely by generation:

Adults between 40 and 49 carry the most total debt, about 4 times more than adults between 18 and 29, according to the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel. Millennials carry the highest average mortgage debt, while Generation X leads in credit cards and auto loans.

While Generation X leads in average credit card debt, there has been a notable rise in Gen Zers with credit card debt in recent years, with balances growing 15.35% in 2023 alone, according to Experian.

Debt Delinquency by the Numbers

Rising debt levels have come with a rise in delinquencies. According to the New York Fed, 4.8% of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency as of Q4 2025, up from 3.6% a year earlier and the highest rate since Q3 2017. Transitions into serious delinquency increased for credit card balances, mortgages and student loans during the quarter.

These trends reflect economic pressures that are affecting millions of households, not just individual missteps. Rising costs, stagnant wages and higher interest rates have made it harder for many people to stay current even when they’re doing everything right.

This story was produced by Accredited Debt Relief and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

How much debt does the average American have? was originally published in Stacker News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.