debt spiral
Self-worsening financial hole
A debt spiral is a worsening cycle where borrowing to pay existing debts creates more debt, which requires more borrowing.
Interest compounds, payments grow, and the borrower falls further behind: The country entered a debt spiral after defaulting on its bonds.
Also called a debt trap.
The term applies to individuals, companies, or governments caught in this self-reinforcing decline.
- bankruptcyLegal status when insolvent
- defaultPreset standard option
- insolvencyInability to pay debts
- financial ruinComplete loss of wealth
- foreclosureLender seizes mortgaged property
drowning · quicksand · vortex · sinking · interest · high interest · compounding · minimum payment · credit card · creditors · collections · overdue · snowball · avalanche · vicious cycle · trap · hole · bottomless
- money mistakesoverspending, impulse buying, no savings, late payments, bounced checks
- debtcreditor, owe, lender, unpaid, borrower
- catch-22svicious cycle, deadlock, poverty trap, infinite regress
- economic problemsmarket failure, recession, inflation, deflation, stagflation
- financial crisesfinancial collapse, bank run, economic collapse, bank failure, bank failures
- fiscal crisesbudget crisis, fiscal crisis, fiscal emergency, budget deficit, government shutdown
debt spiralwealth accumulation
Process of gathering assets
virtuous cycle · financial recovery · prosperity · deleveraging · getting ahead
debt spiralfinancial stability
Sound economic standing
fiscal health · solvency · balanced budget · debt-free · financial security
debt, debts, debtor, debtors, indebted, indebtedness, spiral, spirals, spiraled