Total U.S. household debt climbed to a record $19.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2026, rising $334 billion from the previous quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Credit card balances rose $22 billion in the quarter to a record $1.29 trillion, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier. Mortgage balances rose $257 billion to $13.4 trillion, though about half of that increase reflected balances re-reported after a reporting gap in the previous quarter, the report said. Home equity lines of credit rose $23 billion to $481 billion, the largest quarterly increase since 2005, while auto loan balances increased $21 billion to $1.73 trillion and student loan balances edged up $5 billion to $1.66 trillion.
The average credit card balance per consumer reached $6,678 in the third quarter, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to TransUnion data. New York Fed researchers said on a press call that the buildup "does reflect financial hardship out there," CNBC reported. "Household debt levels rose moderately, led by increases in mortgage and home equity line of credit originations," said Donghoon Lee, an economic research adviser at the New York Fed.
Delinquencies also worsened. The share of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency rose 0.3 percentage points to 5.0 percent in the third quarter. The transition into early delinquency continued to tick up for auto loans and mortgages but improved slightly for credit cards, the New York Fed said.
The debt figures were released the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in October, hotter than economists expected, adding to pressure on household budgets already strained by high borrowing costs.
