This included, for some, multiple stimulus checks, advance child tax credit payments, and unemployment insurance.
From April 2020 to December 2021, the federal government provided a number of payments to individuals impacted by COVID’s economic effects. This was in part due to the federal government’s response. When the pandemic hit the U.S., our economy saw dramatic changes in spending as well as credit card use. And up to 11% of cardholders who carried a balance reached or exceeded their credit limits in a given month. Those who paid off their balances were more likely to use their cards. Many cardholders owed over $1,500 on their cards and many carried a balance for at least a year. Even cardholders with high credit scores (above 720) and high household incomes (more than $150,000) were not immune to carrying credit card debt. In other words, the cardholder wasn’t paying off the full balance each month. In the years before the pandemic-but after the financial crisis (2013-2019)-about half of active credit card accounts carried a balance from one month to the next. What do we know about credit card use before the pandemic? A lot actually. The ups and downs of pandemic era credit card debt
