The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, revealing a modest increase in household debt for the third quarter of 2024. Total household debt rose by $147 billion, or 0.8%, reaching $17.94 trillion. The report draws on data from the New York Fed's Consumer Credit Panel.
In conjunction with the report, a Liberty Street Economics blog post was published to explore changes in aggregate debt-to-income ratios and their implications for Americans' debt management capabilities.
"Although household balances continue to rise in nominal terms, growth in income has outpaced debt," stated Donghoon Lee, Economic Research Advisor at the New York Fed. "Still, elevated delinquency rates reveal stress for many households, even amid some moderation in delinquency trends this quarter."
Mortgage balances increased by $75 billion from the previous quarter to reach $12.59 trillion by September's end. Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) balances saw a $7 billion increase, marking the tenth consecutive quarterly rise since early 2022, totaling $387 billion. Credit card balances went up by $24 billion to $1.17 trillion, while auto loan balances increased by $18 billion to stand at $1.64 trillion. Other consumer loans showed minimal change with a slight increase of $2 billion.
Student loan balances also grew by $21 billion and now total $1.61 trillion.
Mortgage originations slightly picked up pace compared to previous quarters with new mortgages totaling $448 billion in Q3 2024. Aggregate credit card account limits rose modestly by 1.3% or $63 billion from the last quarter, while HELOC limits increased by another $9 billion.
Delinquency rates edged higher this quarter with 3.5% of outstanding debt being delinquent at some stage. However, credit card delinquency rates improved slightly as only 8.8% of balances transitioned into delinquency compared to 9.1% previously recorded.
Early-stage delinquencies for auto loans and mortgages worsened marginally with increases of 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points respectively noted during Q3 2024.
Approximately 126,000 consumers had bankruptcy notations added to their credit reports this quarter—a slight decrease from earlier figures.
The Federal Reserve Bank’s Household Debt and Credit Report offers detailed insights into U.S consumer credit conditions through its nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data providing information on various borrowing trends including mortgages student loans among others aiming at helping community groups small businesses governments better understand monitor respond effectively these evolving financial landscapes available online via interactive graphs downloadable full versions
