Personal loans have become the fastest growing consumer debt, and those borrowers are getting younger, according to a new study from LendingPoint, an online lender that gave USA Today a first look at its data.
The share of personal loan borrowers between ages 18 and 35 has doubled since 2015. They now make up almost a quarter of all debtors, up from 12% in 2015, according to the online lender.
“It seems like we’re attracting a higher percentage of younger borrowers than boomer ones,” says Mark Lorimer, chief marketing officer at LendingPoint. “It’s consistent with what we’ve seen in other areas. Millennials are more credit card adverse than their parents.”
A study last year from the credit bureau TransUnion found millennials carried fewer credit cards than Gen X did at the same age. Their balances were lower, too. The changes also come as many online lenders have proliferated, making it easy to get a personal loan without walking into a bank.
