$5 trillion in consumer credit, 87 cities with rising delinquencies, 24% in Laredo, collapsing confidence nationwide.

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Mortgage delinquency is worsening across most of the country, with rates ranging from 3% to nearly 24% depending on the city, according to WalletHub. The firm found 87 of the 100 largest US cities saw delinquency rates rise between Q1 and Q2 2025 as elevated mortgage rates, high home prices, and cost-of-living pressures strained household finances. Laredo, Texas posted the highest share at 24%, with a nearly 6% quarter-over-quarter increase. Detroit ranked second at nearly 19%, up 11% in the latest quarter. Newark, New Jersey placed third at close to 17%, with a 9% quarter-to-quarter surge.

My Take
87 out of 100 cities saw mortgage delinquencies rise in one quarter. That’s not isolated stress, that’s systemic. Laredo at 24% means nearly one in four mortgages are delinquent. Detroit at 19% with an 11% quarterly jump shows the problem is accelerating. We’ve been tracking car repos hitting 3 million for the year, credit cards at 37% delinquency in Mississippi, student loans with 5.3 million first-time defaults. Now mortgages are joining the pattern.
People prioritize keeping their house above everything else, so mortgage delinquency comes last. When it starts rising across 87 cities simultaneously, households have already exhausted every other option. The median home is $439,701 against median household income of $83,730. Mortgage rates stayed elevated even as the Fed cut rates because bond yields kept rising. When housing becomes unaffordable and people can’t keep up with payments, foreclosures follow.
This feeds directly into the housing market correction prediction we covered where analysts expect prices to drop significantly because the math doesn’t work anymore. The delinquency spike is the early stage of that correction playing out in real time.

THIS IS SOOOO BAD!!!

Something terrifying is happening in the U.S. economy and almost nobody is talking about it.

This chart isn’t stocks.
It’s not the national debt.
It’s not government spending.

It’s consumer credit.

Money borrowed by regular people just to stay afloat.

And it’s gone vertical.

For decades, consumer credit rose slowly, almost naturally.

Then around the 2000s… the curve bent.

After 2008… it steepened.

After 2020… it turned into a straight line.

We’re now sitting at over $5 TRILLION in consumer debt, the highest in U.S. history.

Here’s the part most people miss:

Americans aren’t borrowing to buy luxuries anymore.

They’re borrowing to survive inflation:

– groceries
– rent
– medical bills
– car repairs
– credit card interest
– student loans restarting
– wages not keeping up

People don’t swipe because they want to.

They swipe because they don’t have a choice.

And the “strong consumer” narrative gets repeated every day on CNBC like it’s gospel.

But if the consumer is so strong… why is the average household’s savings rate near record lows?

Why is credit card delinquency rising the fastest since the Great Financial Crisis?

Why is buy-now-pay-later exploding for basic expenses?

Because the reality is simple:

The consumer isn’t strong, the consumer is leveraged.

And here’s the dangerous part:

When consumer credit goes parabolic, it never ends gently.

People borrow until they can’t.

Then you get:

– demand collapse
– layoffs
– recession
– defaults
– a credit squeeze
– and then the Fed steps in with “emergency” measures

This chart isn’t showing growth.
It’s showing pressure building.

And pressure doesn’t disappear.
It releases.

We’re not watching prosperity rise.
We’re watching desperation pile up.

The U.S. economy doesn’t run on innovation. It doesn’t run on productivity.

It runs on consumer spending, 70% of GDP.

So what happens when consumers max out?

What happens when they can’t borrow anymore?

What happens when the spending engine that held everything up for 30 years suddenly stalls?

This chart might be the most important warning signal of 2025.

Most people won’t notice it until it’s too late.

You need to pay attention.

I was right when I told everyone to buy Bitcoin publicly at 16k, and when I told people to sell at 126k (that was the exact bottom and top).

I’ll share my next move publicly in the next few days. Those who still aren’t following me will regret it.

If you need proof that Americans are struggling financially, here it is.

Foreclosures — when a bank or lender takes back a home after missed mortgage payments — are continuing to skyrocket.

New data from ATTOM shows the number of homeowners falling behind is rising every single month.

In November, 35,651 properties had a foreclosure filing — up a staggering 21 percent from just one year earlier.

‘November marks the ninth straight month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, underscoring a trend that has steadily taken shape throughout 2025,’ said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM.

There were 3,884 properties that were officially repossessed by lenders, meaning the foreclosure process was completed. This number grew 26 percent compared to a year ago.

Meanwhile, the number of foreclosure starts (the first step in the process) was 23,720 — a 17 percent rise from November 2024.

‘The data suggests the market is still normalizing as some homeowners contend with higher housing costs and shifting economic pressures,’ Barber said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/real-estate/article-15365157/foreclosures-jump-mortgage-affordability-crisis.html

At a Christmas market outside the US capital, festive cheer alone hasn’t been enough to drive affordability worries out of shoppers’ minds — as American households contend with creeping inflation this holiday season.

“Prices are terrible. It makes it difficult to shop for a lot of your friends and family,” said James Doffermyre, a high school teacher.

The 37-year-old was among visitors at the market in Gaithersburg — a Maryland suburb of Washington — browsing stalls selling everything from greeting cards to decorations.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rising-living-costs-dim-holiday-012457718.html