According to New York Fed’s most recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt, Americans’ total household debt has risen for the past 16 quarters and the total is now $618 billion higher than the previous peak of $12.68 trillion, in Q3 of 2008.  In addition, overall household debt is now 19.2% above the post-financial-crisis low reached during Q2 of 2013. The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample of individual- and household-level debt and credit records drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data.  The New York Fed also issued an accompanying blog post that examines the impact of the removal of third-party collection accounts from credit reports following the implementation of the National Consumer Assistance Plan.

Key takeaways:

• Mortgage balances 9the largest component of household debt) rose by $60 billion during the second quarter, to $9.00 trillion
• Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) continued their downward trend, declining by $4 billion, to $432 billion
• Auto loan balances continued their six-year upward trend, increasing by $9 billion in the quarter, to $1.24 trillion
• Credit card balances rose by $14 billion, or 1.7%, after a seasonal decline in the first quarter

Click here to read the full report at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York