A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans' credit card debt has hit a record $1 trillion.

But some generations are worse off than others.

Members of Gen Z are starting off their adult lives with a credit burden.

Giselle Martinez waited until she was a college sophomore to get a credit card, and wishes there were more opportunities to learn about credits and finances during her education.

“Unfortunately, there were no letters of financial literacy classes around when I was going into college," she said. "I was more afraid about taking out more money than what I could spend.”

Now that she’s got one, often accessing it from her phone, she only buys what she can afford. But new numbers show a trend among Martinez’s age demographic, commonly referred to as Generation Z.

A recent study from Credit Karma shows Gen Zers are taking on amounts of credit card debt faster than older populations – nearly $3,000 on average in the last quarter of 2022.

That 6% increase in credit card debt over the previous quarter may not seem like much, but as interest rates go up and student loan debt remains its own burden, Russ Gaiser, financial planner for The Financial Guys, says young people should be more careful with credit.

“Pay your credit card out in full every month," Gaiser said. "Having a plan that's goals-based. What are they trying to accomplish? But it starts at the very basis of cashflow management, understanding what's coming in and going out. Increasing assets, reducing liabilities and knowing what all those terms mean.”

Giselle is teaching her younger sisters about how to responsibly use a credit card so that they can be just as fiscally savvy as she is.

“I wasn’t really taught the importance of having a credit card, especially in this day and age when you need a healthy credit score to do anything or get anything," she said.