The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data Tuesday issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, which reported that household debt increased by US$35 billion (a 0.3 per cent increase) to US$12.29 trillion during 2Q 2016.
This moderate growth was driven by increases in auto loan and credit card debt, which increased by US$32 billion and US$17 billion respectively.
Mortgage debt declined by US$7 billion in 2Q, after a US$120 billion increase in 1Q, and student loan balances were roughly flat.
Meanwhile, this quarter saw improvements in overall delinquency rates and another historical low (over the 18 years of the data sample) in new foreclosures.
Overall delinquency rates improved, continuing the trend in place since 2010. In 2Q, 4.8 per cent of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency down from 5 per cent previous quarter, and 5.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2015.
The graph shows the per cent of debt in delinquency. The per cent of delinquent debt is declining, although there is still a larger than normal per cent of debt 90+ days delinquent (Yellow, orange and red).