Nolte: Credit Card, Car Note Defaults Hit Ten-Year High

The percentage of people behind on their credit card and car payments has hit a ten-year high, the New York Post reported.

Per Equifax, “credit card delinquencies have hit 3.8% this year, while 3.6% have defaulted on their car loans.”

It’s been more than ten years since we’ve seen figures this high.

The Post blames rising interest rates, which make credit card and car payments higher, along with the crippling inflation inherent in Bidenomics. While that’s undoubtedly the case, historically these default rates remain low. Since 1992, default rates have hovered in the 3.5 to 5.0 percent range. If anything, this recent rise might be nothing more than a return to normal.

The dip below two percent in 2020 can be directly attributed to two things. The first is all those coronavirus stimulus checks. The second is the suspension of student loan payments during the pandemic. That suspension has lasted more than three years and ends next month.

The question now is, how high will the default rate climb? Delinquencies tend to climb during recessions, which we are in now, regardless of what the fake “experts” tell us. But something new might be on the horizon….

Democrats and their media allies have spent the last ten years turning student loan holders into “victims” of the loans they voluntarily took out. And this is all taxpayer money — our money. By creating this victim mentality, it is not out of the question that we will see millions of spoiled babies stop paying their student loans under the misguided impression that this is a virtuous act because they are entitled to “free college.”

My guess is that they will pay their car loans because that is not taxpayer money, and the consequence is real: repossession.

The whole student loan program is a taxpayer-subsidized affirmative action program to make left-wing universities filthy rich. It is absurd that taxpayers back these loans and not the businesses (universities) who directly benefit from them. By removing any moral hazard from the student loan program, the only people who benefit are corrupt schools that overpay staff and explode in size as they hand out useless (Women’s Studies) diplomas like candy.

If the schools had to back these loans, there would be no insane talk about “forgiving student loans,” the schools would be choosier about who they admit, there would be real consequences for default. The students would feel less entitled to a summer camp experience and would feel less like a customer and more like a ward indebted to the schools.

Bidenomics isn’t just about record-high inflation and energy prices. It’s also about a dangerous and entitled attitude that has already brought us looting, arson, shoplifting gangs, brazen car thieves, and this destructive idea that I deserve everything I want.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.