San Diego, CA

Credit card debt is soaring, especially in this San Diego-area city

Published

2 years ago

June 23, 2024

Credit card debt is soaring, especially in this San Diego-area city

(NEXSTAR) – Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments at a level not seen in more than a decade amid high interest rates and persistent inflation, but some cities have far higher average debts than others, a study found.

Four of the five cities with the highest average household credit card debt are located in California, a study by finance site WalletHub found. One of those cities is located in San Diego County.

According to this data, Chula Vista has an average household credit card debt of $20,920, with total credit card debt adding up to $1,737,924,020.

Using data from the Census Bureau, TransUnion and the Federal Reserve, the study’s authors looked at inflation-adjusted household debt in the country’s largest 181 cities found Santa Clarita, California to have the highest average household credit card debt ($21,836), followed by Chula Vista, CA ($20,920), New York, NY ($19,207), Fontana, CA ($18,843) and Rancho Cucamonga, CA ($18,549).

Rank*	City	Household Credit Card Debt	Total Credit Card Debt
1	Santa Clarita, CA	$21,836	$1,601,940,835
2	Chula Vista, CA	$20,920	$1,737,924,020
3	New York, NY	$19,207	$63,051,659,994
4	Fontana, CA	$18,843	$1,052,484,026
5	Rancho Cucamonga, CA	$18,549	$1,067,576,023
6	Pearl City, HI	$18,525	$277,629,365
7	Riverside, CA	$18,094	$1,638,261,858
8	Oxnard, CA	$18,068	$923,256,732
9	Chesapeake, VA	$17,993	$1,644,029,202
10	Pembroke Pines, FL	$17,896	$1,124,017,882
11	Moreno Valley, CA	$17,847	$962,997,139
12	Scottsdale, AZ	$17,502	$2,027,197,821
13	Santa Ana, CA	$17,500	$1,357,153,414
14	Plano, TX	$17,410	$1,870,634,960
15	Gilbert, AZ	$17,305	$1,562,646,307
16	Glendale, CA	$17,304	$1,264,996,463
17	Henderson, NV	$17,013	$2,120,265,216
18	Virginia Beach, VA	$16,947	$3,031,986,253
19	Los Angeles, CA	$16,873	$23,612,096,710
20	Huntington Beach, CA	$16,767	$1,301,835,881

(Credit: Wallethub)

For the full ranking of the 181 largest cities, see the WalletHub study.

“Some of the cities where households owe the most credit card debt, like Santa Clarita and Chula Vista, CA, have high median incomes, high debt payoff rates and low delinquency rates; this indicates that residents may simply have high credit card limits and can afford to borrow more,” according to Cassandra Happe, WalletHub analyst. “Other cities, like New York, have high average credit card debts driven more by financial struggles, which we can see in the number of people who are in financial distress or who are delinquent on their debt.”

What’s behind the debt?

For many American families, it’s likely a combination of factors.

With the Federal Reserve raising its key interest rate to fight nagging inflation, the interest rate on new credit cards has also jumped higher. As of Thursday, the average APR was 24.80%, according to LendingTree.

Tavares said that the number of bills that have become delinquent is now higher than it was before the pandemic, adding that renters appear to be especially vulnerable.

“Younger and less affluent people are experiencing challenges,” Silvio Tavares, CEO of VantageScore, a credit score modeling and analytics company, told the Associated Press. “And high interest rates are having an effect.”

Along with high interest rates and inflation driving up the cost of everyday goods, Americans can no longer rely on some of the pandemic-era stimulus instruments, such as payments, the child tax credit and increased unemployment benefits that boosted household finances.

While not every person with a rolling credit card debt is delinquent, many Americans are increasingly at-risk of not making payments, according to Bruce McClary, senior vice president at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

There’s likely a large group of consumers paying minimum balances and staying out of delinquency for now but who are too financially stressed to pay their balances in full, McClary said. A worsening of the economy could push those consumers into severe delinquency.

For those people working to get out of debt, McClary recommends calling credit card companies to negotiate interest rates, fees and long-term payment plans.

“The best thing to do is to reach out, give an honest assessment of your ability to pay over time, and ask what options are available to you both ‘on and off-the-menu,’” McClary said. This kind of phrasing can give creditors an opening to offer more flexibility, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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San Diego, CA

Proposed fuel pipeline draws interest from investors. Can it give San Diego drivers a break?

Published

7 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Proposed fuel pipeline draws interest from investors. Can it give San Diego drivers a break?

Plenty of financial and regulatory hurdles still need to be cleared, but a fuels pipeline project that may lead to lower gas prices in San Diego and Southern California has received a healthy amount of interest from other companies.

Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have proposed building what they’ve dubbed the Western Gateway Pipeline that would use a combination of existing infrastructure plus new construction to establish a corridor for refined products that would stretch 1,300 miles from St. Louis to California.

If completed, one leg of the pipeline would be the first to deliver motor fuels into California, a state often described as a fuel island that is disconnected from refining hubs in the U.S.

The two companies recently announced the project “has received significant interest” from shippers and investors from what’s called an “open season” that wrapped up on Dec. 19 — so much so that a second round will be held this month for remaining capacity.

“That’s a strong indicator that people would be willing to commit to put volume on that pipeline to bring it west long enough for them to be able to pay off their investment and provide a return for their investors,” said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine. “They won’t build this thing on spec. They’ll need commitments from shippers to do this.”

The plans for the Western Gateway Pipeline include constructing a new line from the Texas Panhandle town of Borger to Phoenix. Meanwhile, the flow on an existing pipeline that currently runs from the San Bernardino County community of Colton to Arizona would be reversed, allowing more fuel to remain in California.

The entire pipeline system would link refinery supply from the Midwest to Phoenix and California, while also providing a connection into Las Vegas.

The proposed route for the Western Gateway Pipeline, a project announced by Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan designed to bring refined products like gasoline to states such as Arizona and keep more supplies within California. (Phillips 66)

A spokesperson for Kinder Morgan told the Union-Tribune in October that there are no plans for the project to construct any new pipelines in California and the proposal “should put downward pressure” on prices at the pump.

“With no new builds in California and using pipelines currently in place, it’s an all-around win-win — good for the state and consumers,” Kinder Morgan’s director of corporate communications, Melissa D. Ruiz, said in an email.

The second round of “open season” will include offerings of new destinations west of Colton that would allow Western Gateway shippers access to markets in Los Angeles.

Even with sufficient investor support, the project would still have to go through an extensive regulatory and permitting process that would undoubtedly receive pushback from environmental groups.

Should the pipeline get built, Hackett said it’s hard to predict what it would mean at the pump for Southern California drivers. But he said the project could ensure more fuel inventory remains inside California, thus reducing reliance on foreign imports, especially given potential political tensions in the South China Sea.

“I’d much rather have our gas come from Texas or Missouri than from Asia, at least from a geopolitical strategic standpoint,” Hackett said.

This past summer, Reuters reported that California’s fuel imports hit their highest levels in four years.

About 70% of the imports — roughly 187,000 barrels per day — came from South Korea and other Asian countries that have long been top trading partners for California and other states along the West Coast, according to Kpler, an international firm that tracks global shipping and trade.

Fuel supplies and gasoline prices have received greater focus in the wake of a pair of refinery closures in California.

Phillips 66 planned to shutter operations at its twin refinery in the Los Angeles area by the close of 2025, and Valero is scheduled to close down its 145,000-barrel-per-day facility in the Northern California city of Benicia in April. The Valero and Phillips 66 facilities combine to account for about 18% of the state’s crude oil capacity.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline is higher in California than in any other state in the continental U.S., according to AAA.

On Tuesday, the average price in the Golden State was $4.254 while the national average came to $2.815. Hawaii had the highest average in the country, at $4.423 per gallon.

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San Diego, CA

San Diego sues federal government over razor wire fence near U.S.-Mexico border

Published

19 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

San Diego sues federal government over razor wire fence near U.S.-Mexico border

The city of San Diego has filed a lawsuit against the federal government that alleges the construction of a razor wire fence near the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes trespassing on city property and has caused environmental harm to the land.

The complaint filed Monday in San Diego federal court states that razor wire fencing being constructed by U.S. Marines in the Marron Valley area has harmed protected plant and wildlife habitats and that the presence of federal personnel there represents unpermitted trespassing.

The lawsuit, which names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Defense among its defendants, says that city officials first discovered the presence of Marines and federal employees in the area in December.

The fencing under construction has blocked city officials from accessing the property to assess and manage the land, and the construction efforts have” caused and will continue to cause property damage and adverse environmental impacts,” according to the lawsuit.

The suit seeks an injunction ordering the defendants to cease and desist from any further trespass or construction in the area.

“The city of San Diego will not allow federal agencies to disregard the law and damage city property,” City Attorney Heather Ferbert said in a statement. “We are taking decisive action to protect sensitive habitats, uphold environmental commitments and ensure that the rights and resources of our community are respected.”

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San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song

Published

1 day ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song – San Diego Union-Tribune

SUNG-MUN SONG

Position(s): Third base, second base
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2026 opening day age: 29
Height / Weight: 6-foot / 194 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2025
Contract status: A four-year, $15 million deal will see Song make $2.5 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $3.5 million in 2028 and $4 million in 2029 if he does not opt out of last year; Half of his $1 million signing bonus is due in January 2026 and the other half in 2027; There is a $7 million mutual option for 2030.
fWAR in 2025: N/A
Key 2025 stats (KBO): .315 AVG, .387 OBP, .530 SLG, 26 HRs, 90 RBIs, 103 runs, 68 walks, 96 strikeouts, 25 steals (144 games, 646 plate appearances)

STAT TO NOTE

.214 — Song’s isolated power in 2025, a career high as he prepared for a jump to the majors. Isolated power measures a player’s raw power (extra bases per at-bat) and Song had a .190 OPS in 2018, in his third year as a pro in Korea, before it dropped to .101 in 2019 and then a career-low .095 in 2023. Hitting 19 homers pushed Song’s isolated power to .178 in 2024 and then a career-high 26 homers push it even higher in 2025.

Idle — Drafted by the Heroes in 2014, Song debuted in the KBO the following year but didn’t become a regular until 2019. A drop-off in production — he had an .884 OPS in 78 games in 2018 and a .597 OPS in 103 games in 2019 — was followed by losing the 2020 season and a chunk of the 2021 season to military service obligations. Then three straight sub-.700 OPS seasons forced Song to rethink his approach to professional baseball, especially in the face of the likes of Ha-Seong Kim, Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim generating big-league buzz. Song started with weight training and nutrition. A hitting coach also helped him with balance, pull-side power and the ability to catch up with the sort of fastballs that seem to dog Korean players when they arrive in the States. It all added up to a breakthrough year in which Song paired 19 homers, 104 RBIs and 21 steals with a .340/.409/.518 batting line. To prove it was no fluke, Song followed up his 2024 season with another strong effort that solidified his wish to try his hand in the majors. The ensuing, four-year, $15 million deal that Song signed with the Padres in December cost his new employer a $3 million posting fee to be paid to the Kiwoom Heroes.

2026 OUTLOOK

Like Kim before him, Song appears to be joining the Padres as a utility player with the hope that he blossoms into more as he gets comfortable in a new country and league. Song had experience in Korea at third base (500 starts), second base (149 starts) and first base (38 starts). Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller even mentioned outfield reps in passing as he assessed how Song could help the Padres in 2026.

Former KBO player Sung-Mun Song shakes hands with Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting Pete DeYoung after signing a contract with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Saturday. (Photo by Armond Feffer/San Diego Padres)