At the North American Repossessors Summit in Orlando, the industry convened to swap stories and check out the latest tow trucks. The big takeaway: Boom times are coming for repo agents, as Americans struggle to pay their bills. 

One attendee told me: "As the economy curves down, our industry curves up."

Thanks to interest rate hikes, elevated inflation and mounting layoffs, the outlook for many is bleak. There's just not enough money to go around, and when auto loan payments are neglected, the repo man comes calling. 

Delinquencies are also becoming more common among credit card users, with the average interest rate at a record high. Total balances rose to a record $986 billion at the end of last year and have likely climbed further since then. There are troubling warning signs like this all across the economy.

This story by my colleagues was another window into these tough economic times, with more people using "buy now, pay later" apps to buy groceries. The services let consumers pay for goods in chunks over the course of several weeks or months, and more than a quarter of users rely on the loans as a bridge to their next paycheck.