Mortgages accounted for 67 percent of the $12.58 billion in U.S. household debt, which February's report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says is expected to increase in 2017. The report says the record $12.68 trillion in household debt, set in 2008, will likely be beaten. Photo by karamysh/Shutterstock.

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Total U.S. household debt climbed to a near-record $12.58 trillion by the end of 2016, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report says.

February's 33-page "Quarterly Report of Household Debt and Credit" shows that every category of debt measured -- including mortgages, credit cards, student loans and auto loans -- saw an increase. The total increase of $460 billion in 2016 was the largest in a decade. Mortgage balances, now at $8.48 trillion, made up 67 percent of the household debt.


At the current rate of growth, household debt is expected to break the 2008 record high, of $12.68 trillion, sometime in 2017. The year was marked by the start of a recession.

The report indicates mortgages still make up the bulk of household debt, but student loans are now 10 percent of the total, auto loans are 9 percent of the total and credit card debt is 6 percent. Dollar amounts rose in each category in 2016's fourth quarter. The rising debt indicates that banks are extending more credit to households.

A major difference between the 2008 and 2016 debt levels, the report said, is that fewer delinquencies were reported at the end of 2016. In last year's fourth quarter, 4.8 percent of debts were regarded as delinquent or late in payment, compared to 8.5 percent of total household debt in 2008's third quarter. There were also 200,000 fewer consumer bankruptcies reported in 2016's fourth quarter, a four percent decline, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.