US credit card debt surpasses US$1tril

NEW YORK: American consumer credit-card debt just passed an ominous milestone, beating a record set just before the global financial system almost collapsed in 2008. Outstanding card loans reached US$1.02 trillion (RM4.37 trillion) in June, data from the Federal Reserve show. In 2008, a drop in home prices spiralled into a global financial meltdown, and after the jobless rate surged towards 10 per cent, banks wrote off more than US$100 billion in credit-card loans over the next two years.