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“While mortgage delinquency rates are similar to pre-pandemic levels, auto loan delinquency transition rates remain elevated.”
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
NEW YORK—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 $93 billion (0.5%) in Q4 2024, to $18.04 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 delinquency rates in the auto loan market.
“While mortgage delinquency rates are similar to pre-pandemic levels, auto loan delinquency transition rates remain elevated.” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, Economic Research Advisor at the New York Fed. “High auto loan delinquency rates are broad-based across credit scores and income levels.”
Credit card balances increased by $45 billion to $1.21 trillion. Auto loan balances saw a $11 billion increase and stood at $1.66 trillion. Mortgage balances increased by $11 billion from the previous quarter and reached $12.61 trillion at the end of December. HELOC balances rose by $9 billion, representing the eleventh consecutive quarterly increase since Q1 2022, and stood at $396 billion. Other balances, which include retail cards and other consumer loans, grew by $8 billion. Student loan balances grew by $9 billion, and now stand at $1.62 trillion.
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The pace of mortgage originations increased slightly from the pace observed in the previous four quarters, with $465 billion newly originated mortgages in Q4. Aggregate limits on credit card accounts increased moderately by $98 billion, representing a 1.3% increase from the previous quarter. Limits on HELOC continued to rise and saw an $8 billion increase.
Aggregate delinquency increased slightly from the previous quarter, with 3.6% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Delinquency transition rates held steady for nearly all debt types, excluding credit cards which had a small uptick in from current to delinquent. Transition into serious delinquency, defined as 90 or more days past due, edged up for auto loans, credit cards, and HELOC balances but remained stable for mortgages. About 123,000 consumers had a bankruptcy notation added to their credit reports this quarter, a small decline from the previous quarter.
Household Debt and Credit Developments as of Q4 2024
| Category | Quarterly Change * (Billions $) | Annual Change** (Billions $) | Total As Of Q4 2024 (Trillions $) |
| Mortgage Debt | (+) $11 | (+) $353 | $12.605 |
| Home Equity Line Of Credit | (+) $9 | (+) $36 | $0.396 |
| Student Debt | (+) $9 | (+) $14 | $1.615 |
| Auto Debt | (+) $11 | (+) $48 | $1.655 |
| Credit Card Debt | (+) $45 | (+) $82 | $1.211 |
| Other | (+) $8 | (+) $0 | $0.554 |
| Total Debt | (+) $93 | (+) $533 | $18.036 |
** Change from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024
Flow into Serious Delinquency (90 days or more delinquent)
| Category 1 | Q4 2023 | Q4 2024 |
| Mortgage Debt | 0.82% | 1.09% |
| Home Equity Line Of Credit | 0.45% | 0.56% |
| Student Loan Debt | 0.79% | 0.70% |
| Auto Loan Debt | 2.66% | 2.96% |
| Credit Card Debt | 6.36% | 7.18% |
| Other | 5.15% | 5.63% |
| ALL | 1.42% | 1.70% |
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 Debt and Credit Report web page and the full report is available for download.
