Credit-card debt is hurting Americans’ capacity to stash away money for a rainy day. More than one-third of Americans say their credit-card debt is larger than their emergency savings, at 36%, up from 22% last year, according to a poll released on Thursday by Bankrate.com. This year’s figure is a record in the survey’s 12-year history.
Saving for an emergency has proved to be a challenge in a time of high inflation and rising interest rates. Nearly four in 10 survey participants (39%) say they either have less money in emergency savings compared with a year ago or have none at all. Last year, 34% said that was the case. It’s another sign of the debt and financial stress that millions of Americans are coping with in a “less-than-optimal” economy, said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “Many have resorted to tapping their emergency savings if they have it, or have taken on credit card debt, or some combination,” he said in a statement. One-quarter of Americans say they would have to use credit cards to cover a $1,000 expense, Bankrate’s survey found. That’s up from 20% a year ago. “With one in four Americans telling …