US household debt maintained its steady rise in the third quarter, breaking the record set in the previous three months while increasing signs of trouble appeared, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.
Total household debt increased by 116 billion US dollars or 0.9 percent from the previous quarter to 12.96 trillion dollars in the third quarter of this year, with increases mostly seen in mortgage, student, auto and credit card debts.
Household debt has been growing since mid-2013, boosted in part by steady growth in auto loan balances, which have grown for 26 consecutive quarters thanks to record-high levels of newly originated loans, said the New York Fed in a blog post on Tuesday.
With the total debt rising, the debt delinquency rates also increased in the quarter. Data showed that aggregate delinquency rates ticked up slightly from second quarter's 4.8 percent to 4.9 percent.
Auto loans and credit card debt were persistently seeing increases in delinquency flows.
Credit card flows into delinquency increased 4.6 percent in the third quarter, compared to a 4.4 percent increase in the second quarter.
Auto loan flows into delinquency rose 2.4 percent in the third quarter, an increase from previous quarter's 2.3 percent growth.
The report is based on data from the New York Fed's Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample of individual, and household-level debt and credit records drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data, said the New York Fed.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency