The uptick in mortgage, auto loan, and credit card debt delinquencies is notable but not alarming ⚠️
A return to normalcy following an abnormal period 💸
Consumer debt delinquencies are rising.
“With the supportive policies of the pandemic mostly in the past, there are pockets of borrowers who are beginning to show some distress on their debt,“ New York Fed researchers observed on Tuesday.
The supportive policies they’re referring to include things like stimulus checks, mortgage forbearance, and loose monetary policy, which kept interest rates low.1
According to the New York Fed’s latest quarterly Household Debt and Credit report, the rate at which mortgage, auto loan, credit card, and other debts went into delinquency increased by 0.5 percentage points during Q2.2
On a call with reporters Tuesday, the New York Fed researchers made it a point to note that while delinquencies were up, they were still below pre-pandemic trend levels.
In other words, delinquency rates may just be gravitating back to a level that’s suitable for a normal economy.
