U.S. household debt jumps to $12.58 trillion, near crisis-era record
Article continues below
Total debt was up $460 billion from a year ago and is now just 0.8 percent below an all-time peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis and deep recession.
But since the housing market-inspired meltdown, mortgages have accounted for a smaller share of overall loans.
"Since reaching a trough in mid-2013, the rebound in household debt has been led by student debt and auto debt, with only sluggish growth in mortgage debt," Wilbert van der Klaauw, a New York Fed senior vice president, said in the report.
Some 4.8 percent of the debt was in some stage of delinquency
Mortgage debt was $8.48 trillion at the end of the last quarter, up $231 billion from a year earlier.
Student loan debt stood at $1.31 trillion, up $78 billion from a year ago, while auto debt hit $1.16 trillion, rising $93 billion in a year. ■