Credit Cards, Auto and Student Loans Cause ‘Modest’ Increase in Household Debt

Total household debt reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York increased slightly in the third quarter this year, influenced by an uptick in credit card, student loan and auto loan balances while mortgage balances declined.

The Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit is based on data from the Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, which includes a group of individual and household debt and credit reports from anonymized Equifax data.

Overall, total household debt increased “modestly” by 0.5 percent, or $63 billion, to $12.35 trillion in the third quarter, according to a news release from the Fed.

Credit card balances increased 2.5 percent, or by $18 billion, to $747 billion and student loans increased 1.6 percent, by $20 billion, to $1.28 trillion. Auto loan balances increased the most among non-housing debt by 2.9 percent, or $32 billion, to $1.14 trillion, according to the report.

http://nyfed.org/2gu3S9C