US consumer deleveraging extended to the second quarter of 2012 according to just released data by the New York Fed, which showed a $53 bn drop in total household debt. Mortgages, HELOC’s, and credit card debt were all trimmed, although those were partly offset by increases in auto loans and student debt. Student debt has soared in recent years to reach a record 28% of non-mortgage household debt in Q2.
While student loans account for 8% of total household debt, they accounted for a disproportionate 13% of delinquencies in Q2. That’s over twice the share of delinquencies seen in 2010Q1 when student loans accounted for 6% of total debt. As today’s Hot Charts show, the spread has never been that big between the students’
share of total delinquencies and the students’ share of total debt. With the US government decision two years ago to back student loans, the growing problem of delinquencies makes the task of reducing the federal budget deficit a bit more challenging.