Interest rates for the most common loan for financing a home purchase, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, are climbing toward 23-year highs. Interest rates on new vehicle loans are pushing monthly payments to record levels. Credit cards are carrying the highest interest rates ever recorded.

On top of higher interest rates, banks responded to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the spring by further restricting to whom they loaned money. And, unfortunately for already debt-strapped consumers, interest rates are expected to stay high—at current rates, or even higher—at least until 2024.

Buyers use a loan to finance most new vehicles sold in the U.S. According to the latest Experian report, the number of Americans taking out loans for new vehicles declined nearly 4 percentage points in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022.

That's as average monthly payments have ballooned 25% between the second quarter of 2021, when inflation really began to heat up the car market, through the same period in 2023. For loans issued to buy new vehicles between April and June 2023, the average monthly payment is $729.

The three-fold hit from interest rates, inflated prices, and tightened lending have placed consumers in a precarious place. Today, higher shares of American borrowers are behind on vehicle loan payments than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Story editing by Jeff Inglis. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.