Press Release

New York Fed Report Shows Households Adding Debt

NEW YORK – In its latest Household Debt and Credit Report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that outstanding household debt increased $241 billion from the previous quarter, the largest quarter over quarter increase since the third quarter of 2007. The increase was led primarily by a 1.9 percent increase in mortgage debt ($152 billion). In Q4 2013 total household indebtedness increased to $11.52 trillion; 2.1 percent higher than the previous quarter. Overall household debt remains 9.1 percent below the peak of $12.68 trillion in Q3 2008. The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data.

A breakdown of who is borrowing, by credit score and age group, is available in our blog post.

“This quarter is the first time since before the Great Recession that household debt has increased over its year-ago levels suggesting that after a long period of deleveraging, households are borrowing again,” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, senior vice president and economist at the New York Fed.

Household Debt and Credit Developments as of Q4 2013:

Category Quarterly Change* Annual Change** Total as of Q4 2013 Mortgage Debt (+) $152 billion (+) $16 billion $8.05 trillion Student Loan Debt (+) $53 billion (+) $114 billion $1.08 trillion Auto Loan Debt (+) $18 billion (+) $80 billion $863 billion Credit Card Debt (+) $11 billion (+) $4 billion $683 billion HELOC (-) $6 billion (-) $34 billion $529 billion Total Debt (+) $241 billion (+) $180 billion $11.52 trillion

*Change from Q3 2013 to Q4 2013

*Change from Q3 2013 to Q4 2013

**Change from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013

90+ day delinquency rates:

Category Q4 2013 Q3 2013 Mortgages 3.9 % 4.3% Student Loans 11.5% 11.8% Auto Loans 3.4% 3.4% Credit Cards 9.5% 9.4% HELOC 3.2% 3.5% All 5.0% 5.3%

Other highlights from the report:

Mortgage originations dropped $97 billion to $452 billion

About 157,000 individuals had new foreclosure notations added to their credit reports, 70 percent below the peak of 566,000 in Q2 2009

About the report: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Household Debt and Credit Report provides unique data and insight into the credit conditions and activity of U.S. consumers. Based on data from the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data, the report provides a quarterly snapshot of household trends in borrowing and indebtedness, including data about mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans and delinquencies. The report aims to help community groups, small businesses, state and local governments and the public to better understand, monitor and respond to trends in borrowing and indebtedness at the household level. Sections of the report are presented as interactive graphs on the New York Fed’s Household Credit web page and the full report is available for download.

Contact

NY.Fed.Media.Relations@NY.frb.org

