These Are the Debts Americans Struggle to Pay Back Most

The payday alternative loan is the hardest debt for Americans to repay, according to an October 2026 report on consumer borrowing in the US. With household debt now surpassing $18 trillion, a new study by MobiusPay (https://mobiuspay.com) set out to find which loan categories Americans are struggling the most to cover.

• For every $100 in payday alternative loans, $12.52 goes unrecovered, the worst loss rate of any consumer debt.
• Americans failed to repay over $4.3 billion in credit-card debt last year, making it the largest source of total net losses.
• Over $3 billion in personal loans went unpaid in the past 12 months, with losses five times higher than other financing categories.

The research examined 11 consumer loan categories to find which ones Americans struggle most to repay. It looked at how much lenders lost on each debt type over the 12 months, after accounting for any money recovered. The report also considered how many balances were already seriously overdue and how those numbers changed over the past year. The loan categories were then ranked by how much they lose per $100 borrowed, revealing which debts are hardest for borrowers to keep up with.

Here's a look at the 10 consumer debts that Americans are struggling to repay:

| Debt Type | Repayment Loss Multiple | Net Loss per $100 | Trailing 12-Month Net Losses | |---|---|---|---| | Payday-alternative loan debt | 14.79x | $12.52 | $17.13M | | Credit-card debt | 5.99x | $5.07 | $4.35B | | Personal loan debt | 5.10x | $4.32 | $3.06B | | Other residential debt | 2.25x | $1.91 | $42.57M | | Other secured debt | 1.36x | $1.15 | $800.13M | | Used-car debt | 1.32x | $1.12 | $3.58B | | Private student debt | 1.01x | $0.86 | $56.99M | | New-car debt | 0.56x | $0.47 | $764.45M | | Lease obligations | 0.31x | $0.27 | $16.21M | | Home-equity debt | 0.04x | $0.04 | $61.52M |

You can access the complete research findings here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQLoRMb-v2t2Hju4zOoqcH5hbJS8cFnvlXRYTQHc-ZyoNIlF6ms4rKHrgfSVDsQV0YhHMNojcksDtjx/pubhtml

1. Payday Alternative Loans

• Repayment Loss Multiple: 14.79× the consumer average
• Net loss per $100: $12.52
• Trailing 12-month net losses: $17.1M
• Seriously overdue per $100: $4.34

Payday alternative loans are the hardest consumer debt for Americans to repay. For every $100 lent through this financing, $12.52 goes unrecovered, a loss rate no other consumer debt comes anywhere near. On top of that, over 4% of all outstanding balances are already at least 60 days past due right now, meaning a significant chunk of borrowers simply stopped paying back. Overall, lenders lose 15 times more on payday alternative loans than on the average consumer debt.

2. Credit-Card Debt

Credit cards are another consumer debt that US residents are struggling to cover. Americans left over $4.3 billion in credit-card balances unrepaid over the past 12 months, more than any other debt type. About 2% of all credit-card balances are also at least 60 days overdue currently, spread across more than 25 million accounts. The average cardholder now owes around $3.3K, and at today's interest rates, even a small missed payment can make it hard to catch up.

3. Personal Loan Debt

Personal loans rank third, with over $3 billion going unpaid in the past 12 months. The average borrower owes around $4.6K+. And with 15.2 million accounts open across the country, Americans collectively hold $70 billion in personal loan debt right now. Over $1.1 billion of that is already at least two months behind on payments. Plus, only 18% of written-off personal loan debt ever gets recovered, with the remaining 82% gone for good.

4. Other Residential Debt

Americans also struggle to cover other types of residential debt, with $42.6 million going unrecovered over the past 12 months. With the average loan at $53K, this is one of the bigger debts Americans carry, and repayment is failing at more than twice the consumer average. Close to $30 million of what is currently owed is already at least two months past due, and that overdue pile has been growing faster for this debt category than for other loans.

5. Other Secured Debt

Other secured loans round out the top five, with lenders losing $800 million in unpaid debt over the past 12 months. Like other residential debts, this is one of the larger loan categories, covering $68.4 billion across 3.9 million accounts. Around $724 million of that is already two or more months behind on payments. Overall, the loss rate for secured debts is about a third above the consumer average, and it has not improved over the past year.

A financial expert from MobiusPay commented on the study:

"Younger Americans are carrying more debt than any generation before them at the same age. Gen Z collectively holds $770 billion in debt, up from $590 billion just a year ago, and millennials are sitting on over $5 trillion. These generations entered adulthood during periods of high housing costs and student loan burdens, so much of their debt came before they had the income to manage it comfortably. Credit cards are where things tend to go wrong as well. Once a younger borrower misses a payment, high interest rates quickly put them into a difficult position, and that cycle is very hard to break without a significant income jump."

When using the data, please credit: https://mobiuspay.com