In tune with the current times, a survey carried out by the American Bankers Association (ABA) revealed that domestic consumers of car, credit card and home-equity loans had defaulted the previous quarter by the highest amounts in the last fifteen years.

They had last been this high in 1992, just after a US recession ended. Delinquencies are a lagging indicator that often doesn't peak until late in an economic slowdown.

The Washington-based group released a statement on Thursday that showed that payments which were more than 30 days past their due dates had increased across all eight major categories of loans. In a consumer-loan index created by the ABA, late loans in the quarter climbed 21 basis points to 2.65 per cent.

The rise in the ABA index was driven by late payments for car loans, which make up two-thirds of all consumer loans with fixed balances. Auto loan delinquencies rose to 1.9 per cent from 1.81 per cent. Overdue mobile-home payments rose to 2.92 per cent from 2.87 per cent, while overdue amounts on bankcards increased from 4.18 per cent to 4.38 per cent.

Statistics reveal that with increasing price of commodities like oil, credit card holders have been increasingly using the card for everyday necessities instead of splurging on luxuries.