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Consumer debt is a common experience for most Americans. It is evident in almost every aspect in their lives. It is a companion in almost all major decisions in a consumer’s life. Financing college dreams would most usually equate to taking out federal and private student loans. This would pay for the tuition and other fees to graduate with a degree.
For consumers buying a car, taking out a car loan is just around the corner. It helps them finance the car instead of buying the car in cash. It allows them as well to not tie up their funds in just one property. Buying a home would similarly have the same concept as getting a car. Mortgage loan is one of the most used consumer loan instrument.
From college education to buying a car and owning a house, consumer debt plays a vital role in those major life points. But even in our everyday lives, consumer debt is evident in our use of credit cards. From buying groceries, paying for the monthly bills to dining out with the family, credit card use has been playing a big role in a consumer’s life.
With all these consumer debt, people have been finding themselves deep in debt and putting together a financial routine to tame big debt. But experts are looking at debt in a different light. Oddly enough, some financial experts deem debt as a good indicator of consumer confidence.
Confidence in growing consumer debt
NYtimes.com recently shared an article on how consumer debt is indicating growth in consumer confidence. From the study, consumer debt for the first quarter of 2014 stands at $8.69 trillion. Covering the same quarter last year, this is a 2% increase in debt. And looking further down the timeline, this is the only increase in consumer debt since the 2008 recession.
The highest point for consumer debt was way back in the third quarter of 2008. Debt stood at $9.99 trillion. After this point, mortgage began a steady decline because of homes being given up due to default. Add to this the fact that few new home mortgages are being taken out for fear of the market and economy in general.
The increase in debt is being studied in comparison with a decline in delinquent payments as well. The study revealed that the delinquent payments for credit cards during the first quarter of 2014 was at 8.5%. This is the lowest percent of delinquent payments since 20013. This is a great indicator of consumer confidence in personal finance.
The study shows as well that there is an increasing number of young consumers aged 22 years old to about 25 years of age that are taking out auto loans. This holds true for those that has student loans and those that do not carry any student debt. There are a few reasons for an increase in auto loan takers such as:
- Stable fuel prices. A steady performance of fuel prices has been generally a great contributor in the increase of auto loans. Thedetroitbureau.com even reported that because of stable prices of fuel, there are shifts in consumer preference in car brands.
- Interest rates. The rates for car loan are relatively low and this encourages consumers more to buy that car that they need.
- Credit availability. This is an example of an economic supply and demand ratio. As more people are looking for lenders for an auto loan, more banks are offering the loan instrument. Extending the service to cover the consumer market that are on the lookout for auto loans.
Talking more about consumer debt, mortgage had quite a decrease in the 27 years old to 30 years of age market. The survey even pointed out that a lot of it has to do with people struggling with student loans.
Student loans are affecting mortgage loans
Carrying big debt can lead to terrible things to your family. Debt is is both prohibitive and limiting in nature. This does not limit itself to just mortgage loans, credit card and auto loans. In fact, one of the bigger industries at the moment is student loans. The industry has seen phenomenal increase over the past few years.
Westernherald.com shows that in the past 10 years, there has been a 300 percent increase in student debt. The industry is now at $1.2 trillion and growing. In 20013, the student debt stood only at $253 billion and steadily climbed up. In fact, if grouped with other consumer debt such as mortgage loans, credit cards debt and auto loans – student debt kept at increasing in a steady pace.
This year, there are about .85 college students graduating with a bachelor’s degree. Simple straight computation would indicate that each one of them would have an average of about $26,500 a college graduate. Even with lower delinquent payments for student loans, there are still about 30% in default for federal loans. This indicates that there are quite a large number of borrowers struggling with payment.
This is in fact one of the things that experts are looking at as a cause of a decline in new mortgages for possible borrowers with student loans. Simple logic dictates that having a big student debt puts stress on a borrower to pay. The chances are they send in late payments or worse, delinquent payments. This would reflect negatively on their credit score. And a subprime borrower would either be slapped with a high interest rate because of the risk or be denied outright. These two scenarios would lead the borrower to put off a mortgage loan until the student loan is paid or their credit score improves.
This is a dilemma knowing how a college education benefits the income. There is evidence to support that college graduates are able to land better paying jobs than high school graduate. Unemployment for college graduates are at 6 percent as compared to 13 percent for high school graduates or those who do not have a college degree.
The student loan debacle can boil down to one point, managing any consumer debt has to be done with financial literacy at the helm. From the time the loan is to be taken out until the repayment period all the way to paying it off. Having the basic wisdom if the loan is really something that is needed to the budgeting of monthly income to pay off the debt requires financial literacy.
It is one thing to qualify for a loan but it is another to make the payments to maintain a good credit score. Having a good paying job will not worth much if you delay on your payments and use the funds for unecessary expenses. Having a goal to aim for can greatly help in steering you over to the right direction. Having a budget as well to guide you in your daily expenses will bring you closer to that goal.
The increase in consumer confidence because of an increase in debt and decrease in delinquent payments is a good sign that people are able to maintain debt and make the payments on time. They are more aware of the financial responsibilities and the effects of mismanaging the payments. It can also show the confidence people have in the economy because taking out loans are long term responsibilities.
