New York Fed reports decline in US household debt delinquencies

American households are paying their bills a little more reliably, at least in aggregate. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its Q2 2026 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit on August 11, showing a modest decline in overall delinquency transition rates even as total debt continued its slow, gravitational climb upward. The headline number: total US household debt now sits at approximately $18.8 trillion. That’s up $18 billion from the prior quarter, a 0.1% increase. The aggregate delinquency rate held steady at 4.8%, unchanged from Q1 2026. The good, the bad, and the overdue Dig into the subcategories and the picture gets more complicated. Transition rates into early delinquency, essentially the share of accounts newly falling behind, ticked down slightly for two major categories. Credit card early delinquency transitions dipped from 8.7% to 8.6%. Mortgage early delinquency transitions fell from 3.9% to 3.8%. The more concerning signal lies in serious delinquency rates for mortgages, which either held constant or nudged slightly higher depending on the cohort. Auto loans and credit cards also remain at elevated levels. The data, drawn from the New York Fed’s Cons...