How to Use consumer debt in a Sentence

consumer debt

noun
  • This mountain of consumer debt is top of mind for ResilienceVC and investors like us.
    Vikas Raj, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
  • The global economy runs on debt, and in America, consumer debt is a huge part of how things work here, and there are good things about that too.
    Quartz Staff, Quartz, 28 Mar. 2023
  • But here’s a complete strategy for dealing with the burden of consumer debt.
    Terry Savage, Orlando Sentinel, 22 Feb. 2023
  • For a while, consumer debt and delinquencies on that debt were falling during the pandemic.
    Nate Dicamillo, Quartz, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Wages flatlined and consumer debt soared, as credit cards became an increasingly easy way to pay for things.
    Mya Frazier, New York Times, 7 June 2023
  • But the level of consumer debt has ballooned into a national crisis.
    Gabriela Sa Pessoa, Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2023
  • Through much of the 1990s, these tectonic shifts were partly obscured in the United States by falling prices, increased consumer debt, and low interest rates.
    Rana Foroohar, Foreign Affairs, 28 Oct. 2022
  • Corporate bankruptcies are on the rise and so are consumer debt delinquencies.
    Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 3 July 2023
  • People who have a lot of consumer debt and continue with their spending will sometimes try to get their problem to go away by simply shifting it to someone else.
    Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 4 May 2024
  • Across the United States, 45 million people owe $1.6 trillion for such loans — more than Americans owe for any kind of consumer debt other than mortgages.
    Michael D. Shear, New York Times, 30 May 2023
  • People who have a lot of consumer debt who continue with their spending will sometimes try to get their problem to go away by simply shifting it to someone else.
    Amy Dickinson, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 2024
  • Households are already using up their excess cash to pay for inflated prices, and consumer debt has been increasing as well.
    Byalicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 1 Sep. 2023
  • At the same time, the pause helped many households achieve other goals, like buying homes, paying off other consumer debt, or simply get by even as prices for essentials skyrocketed.
    Byalicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2023
  • That means consumer debt — especially variable-rate credit card debt — will get more expensive.
    Jeanne Sahadi, CNN, 25 Mar. 2023
  • If there were to be a deterioration in the labor market, that would be worrisome for consumer debt and delinquency levels, New York Fed researchers said.
    Alicia Wallace, CNN, 16 Feb. 2023
  • The chart above shows that 70% of consumer debt is mortgage related, and, with high mortgage rates (7%), this will put an increasing burden on borrowers with new mortgages, resulting in less of their income available for consumption.
    Robert Barone, Forbes, 12 Aug. 2023
  • The company surveyed 2,000 consumers with active accounts across the consumer debt categories the Fed also tracks: mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans, and home equity lines of credit.
    Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 14 May 2024
  • Fresh Mastercard data out Tuesday showed Americans spent their way through the holidays despite rising consumer debt and the lingering bite of inflation, with online spending up 6.3 percent.
    Aaron Gregg, Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2023
  • And with inflation still elevated and consumer debt at record highs, industry experts expect more Americans will lean on such services to afford necessities like food and school supplies.
    Abha Bhattarai, Washington Post, 12 July 2023
  • In addition, the federal government should consider offering student loan forgiveness programs to healthcare workers; as student loans make up the second largest source of consumer debt in the US, with those in healthcare facing high burdens.
    Omer Awan, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023
  • The chief financial officer at Macy’s said consumer debt in a higher-interest-rate environment is already putting customers under pressure.
    Jennifer Williams-Alvarez, WSJ, 5 Sep. 2023
  • However, higher rates, when consumer debt load topped $17 trillion, effectively caused household expenses to increase.
    Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Apr. 2024
  • Not only that, there’s evidence that the student-loan-repayment moratorium hurt borrowers by distorting their impression of their own financial obligations, leading them to take on even more consumer debt.
    Noah Rothman, National Review, 9 Oct. 2023
  • To varying degrees, forbearance extended to housing, auto and consumer debt, with some private lenders taking part voluntarily.
    Lydia Depillis, New York Times, 21 June 2023
  • The problem is not just over-indebtedness, but also an intentionally complex system surrounding consumer debt, where people struggle to understand their obligations.
    Vikas Raj, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
  • Rising interest rates, coupled with inflation, have simultaneously affected bank balance sheets and consumer debt and expenditures.
    Christos Makridis, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'consumer debt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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