Discover® Personal Loans has officially published the results from a new report, which reveals that four in every five Americans (84%) are interested in improving their financial situation, but two in five (41%) are unsure about how to best manage their personal finances,
Going by available details, many Americans also believe that their financial situation will stay the same (41%) or get better (38%) in the year ahead, but 20% expect their financial situation to worsen over the given period.
To contextualize this piece of data, we must take into account how nearly half (44%) of Americans say they’re currently in debt. Out of ones in debt, 84% said inflation makes managing personal debt challenging, whereas on the other hand, 83% said budget is a helpful tool for managing personal debt. Having said so, only 44% say they created a budget for 2025.
Moving on, 77% of respondents also went on to say that paying off personal debt is one hugely expensive affair, while 70% were deemed financially unprepared for unexpected expenses over $2,500.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in how 58% feel they will never get out of debt, 52% lose sleep over personal debt, 48% aren’t confident they’ll get their debt paid off within the next year, and 48% say their personal debt is unmanageable, spanning across credit card debt (70%), medical debt (38%), and money owed to family/friendly (25%).
Among other things, we ought to mention how 33% of respondents also reported a significant amount of debt, with 37% avoiding looking at the amount of money in their bank account altogether.
“I’m inspired that Americans are motivated to seek a brighter financial future, and that many are making or searching for a game plan to achieve their financial goals,” said Dan Nickele, vice president, Discover Personal Loans. “American consumers also told us they anticipate costs to rise in categories like groceries and healthcare.”
Markedly, when asked to think about the current state of the economy, 48% of survey respondents said they heading in the wrong direction, 31% say they are in the right direction, and 15% would pick neither of the option. Economic uncertainty was also found to be impacting financial stress, as 86% of Americans have some level of concern about their personal financial situation. In fact, an estimated two-thirds (66%) of the surveyed contingent revealed they are experiencing high or moderate anxiety.
If we talk about just 2025, nearly half of Americans say inflation (49%) and everyday expenses (45%) contribute to their feelings of financial stress. Beyond that, at least one-quarter of Americans were discovered to experience financial anxiety, largely due to the state of the economy (38%), their personal debt (29%), unexpected expenses (28%), housing costs (27%), and their household income (25%).
Among other things, we ought to mention how Americans believe personal loans are a good option for a big, unexpected expense (53%), and a good option for someone with high-interest debt (39%). Having said so, many still have negative perceptions of personal loans.
We must also touch upon the fact that 45% percent of Americans have set financial goals for 2025. From that lot, 81% say they’ve made at least some progress (38% are happy with that progress, and 43% feel they could have made better progress).
As for the top actions executed by 38% of Americans, who are happy with their progress, they include creating and following a budget (36%), reducing discretionary spending (31%), investing (35%), contributing to an emergency fund (26%), increasing income streams (25%), and paying off or consolidating high interest debt (24%).
“At Discover, our goal is to help customers find smart solutions to achieve their financial goals. For some people, especially those with high-interest debt, a personal loan may be a helpful tool to reduce the cost of their interest and accelerate the elimination of debt,” said Nickele. “Research is important when making big financial decisions, especially with some of the negative perceptions out there around personal loans. I encourage consumers who could benefit from a personal loan to look for lenders that offer competitive interest rates, no fees, flexible repayment terms and fast funding.”
