Consumer sentiment is plummeting, delinquency rates are rising, and nearly three-quarters of all U.S. consumers admit that they are \u201cfinancially stressed\u201d. \u00a0If U.S. consumers are experiencing this much pain now, what will things look like six months from today if there are\u00a0empty shelves and widespread shortages<\/a>? \u00a0We witnessed a brief period of severe financial stress during the early days of the last pandemic, but we would have to go all the way back to the Great Recession to find a time that is truly comparable to what we are enduring now. \u00a0U.S consumers have been getting hammered for years, and now it appears that our problems are about to go to an entirely new level. \u00a0The following are 12 signs that U.S. consumers are experiencing far more financial stress than most people realize\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n #1<\/strong>\u00a0According to the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment in the United States has fallen\u00a0to the second-lowest reading ever recorded<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans are rarely this pessimistic about the economy.<\/p> Consumer sentiment plunged 11% this month to a preliminary reading of 50.8, the University of Michigan said in its latest survey released Friday, the second-lowest reading on records going back to 1952.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #2<\/strong>\u00a0According to\u00a0a new CNBC\/SurveyMonkey poll<\/a>, a whopping 73 percent of U.S. consumers admit that they are \u201cfinancially stressed\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans are growing increasingly uneasy about the state of the U.S. economy and their own personal financial situation in the face of stubborn inflation and tariff wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To that point, 73% of respondents said they are \u201cfinancially stressed,\u201d with 66% of that group pointing to the tariff wars as a main source, according to a new CNBC\/SurveyMonkey online poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey of 4,200 U.S. adults was conducted April 3 to 7.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #3<\/strong>\u00a0Approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults feel like they are\u00a0\u201cbehind on their savings goals\u201d<\/a>, and half of U.S. adults believe that they will never reach their savings goals at all\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n 67% of Americans feel behind on their savings goals, with nearly half (47%) believing they\u2019ll never reach their targets<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #4<\/strong>\u00a0More than 60 percent of U.S. adults that currently have savings accounts have taken money out of them\u00a0since the start of this year<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n 63% of people with savings accounts have withdrawn money since the beginning of 2025, primarily for unexpected expenses (48%) and everyday necessities (36%)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #5<\/strong>\u00a0The percentage of U.S. credit card accounts that are at least 90 days past due has reached the highest level\u00a0in 12 years<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The percentage of credit card accounts that were at least 90 days past due hit a 12-year high in the fourth quarter of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 0.90% of accounts were delinquent, the most since the Fed bank began its report.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #6<\/strong>\u00a05 million<\/a>\u00a0student loan borrowers in the United States have not made a single payment in the last year, and\u00a04 million<\/a>\u00a0other student loan borrowers will soon reach that status\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the more than 42.7 million student loan borrowers in the U.S., who owe a collective $1.6 trillion, the department says that more than 5 million have not made a payment in the past year. That number is expected to grow as an additional 4 million borrowers are approaching default status.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #7<\/strong>\u00a0For the first time in about 5 years, the Department of Eduction \u201cwill resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio\u201d. \u00a0This is going to put additional financial stress\u00a0on millions of U.S. households<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Department of Education today announced its Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) will resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio on Monday, May 5th. The Department has not collected on defaulted loans since March 2020. Resuming collections protects taxpayers from shouldering the cost of federal student loans that borrowers willingly undertook to finance their postsecondary education. This initiative will be paired with a comprehensive communications and outreach campaign to ensure borrowers understand how to return to repayment or get out of default.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #8<\/strong>\u00a0The average credit score in the United States just dropped at the fastest pace\u00a0since the Great Recession<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n America\u2019s credit score just took its biggest hit since the 2008 crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average FICO score in the US has dropped to 715 from 717 \u2014 the largest one-year drop since the Great Recession, according to new data from the credit-rating giant FICO.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #9<\/strong>\u00a0U.S. consumers are eating out less, and as a result restaurant chains all over the country\u00a0are in financial distress<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once rapidly growing commercial marvels, casual dining chains \u2014 sit-down restaurants where middle-class families can walk in without a reservation, order from another human and share a meal \u2014 have been in decline for most of the 21st century. Last year, TGI Fridays and Red Lobster both filed for bankruptcy. Outback and Applebee\u2019s have closed dozens of locations. Pizza Hut locations with actual dining rooms are vanishingly rare, with hundreds closing since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a February survey by the market research firm Datassential, 24 percent of Americans say they are having dinner at casual restaurants less often, and 29 percent are dining out less with groups of friends and family.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #10<\/strong>\u00a0U.S. consumers are visiting shopping malls a lot less than they once did, and as a result many mall retailers\u00a0are going belly up<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merry Go Round, Bon-Ton, Lord & Taylor, The Limited, Loehmann\u2019s, Bonwit Teller, Chess King, and Anchor Blue are just a few once-successful clothing retailers that no longer exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, a once-trendy fashion\/clothing retailer finds itself having to make massive cuts and shut down 100s of stores in a fight to avoid bankruptcy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n #11<\/strong>\u00a0U.S. consumers are not spending as much money at hair salons, and Bloomberg is telling us that this is an indicator\u00a0that a recession is coming<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stylists from Manhattan to rural New Hampshire are seeing regular clients start to skip cuts and blowouts. In from the Maine town of Brewer, hairstylist Alyssa Dow said customers are choosing cheaper, \u201cmore low-maintenance\u201d looks\u2014and tipping less. In affluent Longmeadow, Massachusetts, where \u201cpeople don\u2019t like to walk around with roots\u201d showing, clients who previously got color every two or three weeks are stretching it to four or five, citing the \u201cpolitical situation\u201d and implying they\u2019ve lost money in the stock market, said Michelle LaValley. \u201cThey\u2019re cutting back in other areas as well, so it\u2019s not just us,\u201d said the salon owner, who has 28 years in the business. The wider pullback in spending seems to go beyond the general grumpiness that accompanied the so-called vibecession that started years ago when inflation rose, interest rates spiked and yet the US kept growing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
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