Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Household Debt Reaches New Peak Driven by Gains in Mortgage, Auto, and Student Debt  According to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, total household debt increased by $206 billion (1.4 percent) to $14.56 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2020, driven in part by a steep increase in mortgage originations. The total debt balance is $414 billion higher than at the end of 2019. Newly originated mortgages, which include refinances, reached a record high of $1.2 trillion, surpassing in nominal terms the volumes seen during the historic refinance boom in the third quarter of 2003. Auto and student loan balances increased by $14 billion and $9 billion, respectively.

The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) provides timely and comprehensive information about consumer expectations through three broad categories: inflation, labour market and household finance. The SCE contains monthly insight about how consumers expect overall inflation and prices for food, gas, housing, education and medical care to change over time. It also provides Americans’ views about job prospects and earnings growth, as well as their expectations about future spending and access to credit. The SCE also provides measures of uncertainty in expectations for the main outcomes of interest. Expectations are available by age, income, education, numeracy and geography.