Some types of debt seem inescapable. Tens of millions of American are saddled with mortgages, student loans, credit card debt or a combination of the three. But there’s another place where Americans also carry huge outstanding liabilities: in their garages. Cars are rivaling everything else in terms of debt bondage for everyday Americans.
Roughly one in four Americans are paying off auto debt, according to a report published Wednesday by the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and are overall on the hook for a record $1.68 trillion in car loans or outstanding payments. Those figures out auto loans on par with all outstanding federal student loan debt ($1.69 trillion of federal debt and $1.84 trillion total) and ahead of credit card balances ($1.28 trillion outstanding as of last year).
