5% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers without bill payment difficulties faced an unexpected expense of at least $1,200.

Debt confidence among this group fell 10.1 percentage points in October to 61.1%.

2% paid down debt faster or avoided new debt because of job or income worries, up from 15.2% in August.

Keeping up with monthly bills leaves another financial test for paycheck-to-paycheck consumers: finding room for expenses they hadn’t planned to pay.

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In October, 32.5% of consumers living paycheck to paycheck without issues paying bills reported an unexpected expense of $1,200 or more in the previous 90 days, up from 27.1% in August. That increase was more than twice the percentage point gain among consumers who do not live paycheck to paycheck, according to PYMNTS Intelligence’s “Keeping Up Gets Harder: Debt Confidence Falls Among Bill Payers.”

The group represents about 4 in 10 consumers. Its members describe themselves as comfortably paying their bills, making their ability to accommodate additional costs a concern for banks and lenders serving a substantial share of households.

Their exposure to large unexpected expenses also moved closer to that of consumers already struggling with bills. In August, the two groups were separated by 6.5 percentage points. By October, the gap had narrowed to 1.7 points: 32.5% among those without payment difficulties versus 34.2% among those with them.

Consumers outside the paycheck-to-paycheck population remained less exposed. 2% over the same period.

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