Two-thirds polled would have to put it on a credit card or couldn't pay at allMost Americans don’t have the financial resources to cover a surprise expense of $400 — a car or applianceJust over one-third of respondents said they have cash on hand to cover the expense, and the figure rises to 48% when including those who said they’d use a credit card but pay it off immediately before incurring interest charges, according to a poll conducted by decision intelligence company Morning Consult...
The data highlight widespread financial fragility, even in an economy with unemployment near 50-year lows, and the erosion of the savings cushion that some households built up in the pandemic. It also shows how many Americans could be pushed into taking on more debt — even as interest rates surge — by a relatively commonplace event.
The findings show that millions of families, if they were faced by an unexpected $400 expense, wouldn’t be able to pay some of their other bills. The poll results are similar to the Fed’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, known as the SHED survey. The next edition of that study is likely to be published in the coming weeks. The new Morning Consult/Bloomberg survey will be conducted on a quarterly basis in the future.