Americans are accumulating debt faster than they're putting money into their 401(k)s, a study released Thursday by HelloWallet said.

That's despite the fact that employers added $2.5 trillion to defined contribution plans in the period studied, 1992-2010. Over the same time, the one-third of working households enrolled in a 401(k) plan took on $2.7 trillion debt, HelloWallet, a financial technology firm based in Washington, D.C., said.

Of those households, 60 percent took on more debt than they saved, the analysis of consumer finance data from the Federal Reserve and the Census Bureau showed.

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