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 $18 billion, just a 0.1% increase, in Q1 2026, to $18.8 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 which borrowers defaulted on their student loans and whether those defaults spilled over to their ... (full story)

Credit card balances fell in the first quarter of 2026, decreasing by $25 billion to $1.25 trillion, according to a new report on household debt by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Tuesday. Still, that’s a 5.9% jump from a year earlier. At the same time, mortgage debt, auto loans, and home equity lines of credit were all higher, the New York Fed found. Overall, “household debt levels rose slightly, with modest increases in most debt types offsetting a seasonal decline in credit card balances,” Daniel Mangrum, research economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement. Near the end of the year, credit ... (full story)