NY Fed Q3 Report: Household Debt Increased; Delinquency Rate "Edged Up"

From the NY Fed: Household Debt Rose Modestly; Delinquency Rates Remain Elevated

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. The report shows total household debt increased by $147 billion (0.8%) in Q3 2024, to $17.94 trillion. The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s nationally representative Consumer Credit Panel. It includes a one-page summary of key takeaways and their supporting data points.

The New York Fed also issued an accompanying Liberty Street Economics blog post examining the evolution in aggregate debt to income ratios and what that suggests about Americans’ ability to manage their debt obligations.

“Although household balances continue to rise in nominal terms, growth in income has outpaced debt,” said 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 and reached $12.59 trillion at the end of September. HELOC balances increased by $7 billion, representing the tenth consecutive quarterly increase since Q1 2022, and stood at $387 billion. Credit card balances increased by $24 billion to $1.17 trillion. Auto loan balances saw a $18 billion increase and stood at $1.64 trillion. Other balances, which include retail cards and other consumer loans, were effectively flat, with a $2 billion increase. Student loan balances grew by $21 billion, and now stand at $1.61 trillion.

The pace of mortgage originations increased slightly from the pace observed in the previous four quarters, with $448 billion of newly originated mortgages in Q3. Aggregate limits on credit card accounts increased modestly by $63 billion, representing a 1.3% increase from the previous quarter. Limits on HELOC increased by $9 billion, the tenth consecutive quarterly increase.

Aggregate delinquency rates edged up from the previous quarter, with 3.5% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Delinquency transition rates were mixed. Credit card delinquency rates improved, with 8.8% of balances transitioning to delinquency compared to 9.1% in the previous quarter. Early delinquency transitions for auto loans and mortgages worsened slightly, rising by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points respectively. About 126,000 consumers had a bankruptcy notation added to their credit reports this quarter, a small decline from the previous quarter.
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Click on graph for larger image.

Here are three graphs from the report:

The first graph shows household debt increased in Q3.  Household debt previously peaked in 2008 and bottomed in Q3 2013. Unlike following the great recession, there wasn't a decline in debt during the pandemic.

From the NY Fed:

Aggregate nominal household debt balances increased by $147 billion in the third quarter of 2024, a 0.8% rise from 2024Q2. Balances now stand at $17.94 trillion and have increased by $3.8 trillion since the end of 2019, just before the pandemic recession.

The second graph shows the percent of debt in delinquency.

The overall delinquency rate increased in Q3.  From the NY Fed:

Aggregate delinquency rates edged up slightly in the third quarter of 2024. As of September, 3.5 percent of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency, up from 3.2 percent in the second quarter. ... Delinquency transition rates were mixed. Credit card delinquency rates improved, with 8.8 percent of balances transitioning to delinquency at an annual rate compared to 9.1 percent in the previous quarter. Early delinquency transitions for auto loans and mortgages worsened slightly, rising by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points respectively.

The third graph shows Mortgage Originations by Credit Score.

From the NY Fed:

Credit quality of newly originated loans edged up slightly, with some improvements in the credit scores of newly originating auto loan and mortgage borrowers. Two-thirds of newly originated mortgages went to borrowers with credit scores above 760, while the share of auto loans opened by the highest credit score group borrowers hovered just below the long-term high, at 37%.

There is much more in the report.