According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, total household debt climbed to $12.58 trillion at the end of 2016, an increase of $460 billion for the year, making it the largest increase in almost a decade. The current amounts are almost equal to the debt levels Americans had in 2008, when total consumer debt reached a record high of $12.68 trillion.
The Fed tracks household debt by categories, such as mortgage, student, credit cards, home equity loans, and auto loans.
Over the decades, the most consistent and significant amount of household debt has been mortgages. The recent increase in total overall debt is primarily attributable to a steady rise in both student and auto loans. Recent Federal Reserve data shows that these two loan types are primarily held by younger consumers. The concern is that the difficulty of obtaining mortgage loans has led younger consumers to take out student and auto
loans instead.
Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
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