a new to work American debt with rotary wheel It shows Americans reaching record levels. The danger increases as more than one type of debt is added. Spinwheel analyzed $2.9 billion in consumer debt from more than 20,000 borrowers between November 2025 and May.
Adding a single debt type of Spinwheel increases liabilities significantly. Jessica Kendall in question. Switching from one to two increases the average balance more than tenfold, from $2,755 to $28,251. Adding a third type increases balances by more than 600%.
“This is probably due in large part to mortgages.” Kendall said. “But even if you exclude mortgages, total balances still increase by 7.3 times when a second type of debt comes into play.
“This is not additive. It is striking. The shift to multiple debt categories appears to fundamentally change the financial profile of the borrower. The most predictive signal of total debt burden is the number of debt types managed simultaneously.”
While 70 cents per dollar goes to a mortgage loan, it is the type of debt with the least number of consumers. Although more than 90% of consumers have a credit card balance, their collective debt accounts for only 7.2% of the money owed:
- Of the 2.9 billion dollars examined, 2.03 billion dollars were housing loans. One in three borrowers has a balance outstanding, and the average is $288,971.
- Vehicle loans rank second with 264 million dollars. Roughly 49.4% carry an average balance of $25,450.
- Student loans totaled $236 million, with the average balance being $50,257. There is a balance between one-fourth and one-fifth.
- Credit card debt was $211 million, and 93.7% had an average balance of $10,715.
- Personal loan debt was $163 million and the average balance was $17,774; 43.8% were carrying a balance.
More cards = Spending changes
Credit usage is changing as consumers obtain more cards. Those with one or two cards use 36.3% of the available credit, and those with more than 25 cards use 20.9%.
“This likely reflects a subpopulation of financially sophisticated consumers who are optimizing for rewards, taking advantage of low interest rates by opening new cards, and building credit by holding cards they are not actively using.” Kendall said.
Spinning wheel: Vehicle loans are a hidden danger
Spinwheel sounded the alarm about auto loans, which are the largest and second most common type of debt when mortgages are excluded.
“The average car payment is $582 per month, consuming 9.5% of the median U.S. household income on a single monthly car payment.” Kendall said. “This means that the much larger and less visible crisis may arise from Americans systematically overborrowing on depreciating assets.”
Additional findings
The Spinwheel report identifies an unstable middle debt tier. Those with “good” scores between 670-739 carry the most debt, while those with the most personal and student loan debt are “very good” (740-799).
““These borrowers likely occupy a financially precarious middle ground: creditworthy enough to access large amounts of debt, but sufficiently leveraged to prevent their scores from rising to the top.” Kendall explained. “Data shows that among those with the highest credit scores, borrowers with the best credit scores carry less unsecured debt, meaning those with ‘perfect’ scores have the lowest average credit card and student loan balances of any tier.
“The biggest blind spot in analysis of total debt based solely on averages is the mixing of different types of balance sheets. For example, a $200k mortgage is completely different from a $200k credit card debt. High-score borrowers carry more dollars but a much healthier mix. Secured balances grow more than 4x from borrowers with ‘poor’ credit scores to ‘excellent’ scores.”
Spinwheel warns that accumulating more than one type of debt creates more pressure than traditional metrics can assess. Credit scores can further indicate payment consistency while masking other dangers.
“Even the largest debt burdens are no longer concentrated where many institutions assume.” Kendall concluded. “The result is a consumer credit system that often measures payment behavior more effectively than financial flexibility. For lenders and fintechs, this means the next generation of underwriting and financial wellness tools can’t rely solely on isolated balances, utilization rates or credit scores.”
