Fed Report: Household Debt growing faster than inflation, faster than GDP

Economy Science and Technolgy
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The GDP is a good INDICATOR, but it is a bad stand alone synonym for “the economy.”

To truly understand “the economy,” “economic well-being” etc., one needs to consider other factors chief among those are assets, liabilities savings etc…

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As today’s figures show, household debt is rising more quickly than GDP, than inflation, than payrolls etc. etc.

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I’m just glad to be one household that is moving in the opposite direction.

But it doesn’t take a whole lot of random conversations to know what the figures show.

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Economy-wide, or just in the government we borrow 1.1X or 1.2X in order to increase one-time consumption 1X.

It’s not just the govvernment, itis about economic health.
Sure we consume more an more, (GDP) but that is a poor measure of economic health.
The economy is no longer an adding machine.
The economy is now a subtracting machine.
(@tnt )

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Also from today’s report

Below are two graphics showing new loan deliquencies.
Here is the previous one (3 months old)

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And this is from today’s report (notice the big uptick in the redline? Those lonas were already delinquent, but the previous administartion refused to report them to the credit bureaus.

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More smoke and mirrors.

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oops I posted this in the wrong section.

I doubt it matters.
It it does then I invite the MODs to move it.

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The “other” Fed report today was mixed/positive with conusmers substantially reducing overall debt in 2 important categories

The NY Fed does a huge data dump of nationwide data from the credit reporting bureaus and found that in 1Q 2025:

  • Total household debt increased by $167 billion to reach $18.20 trillion in the first quarter,
  • Credit card balances fell by $29 billion from the previous quarter to stand at $1.18 trillion; <–THAT’S A LOT
  • auto loan balances declined by $13 billion to $1.64 trillion, marking only the second time balances have fallen from a prior quarter since 2011. <–THAT’S A LOT
  • Student loan balances grew by $16 billion to reach $1.63 trillion, and the data show a large uptick in the rate at which balances went from current to delinquent, due to the resumption of reporting student loans on credit reports after a nearly five-year pause.
  • Mortgage balances increased by $199 billion to reach $12.80 trillion and
  • HELOC balances rose by $6 billion to $402 billion. ound

It also found 9agan 1 Q 2025)

  • Aggregate delinquency rates rose from the previous quarter, with 4.3 percent of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency.
  • Transition into serious delinquency remained stable for auto loans, credit cards, and other debt.
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I hear inflation has eased to the lowest pace since 2021.

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Inflation is indeed very low.

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