New York Fed: credit-card balances drop $25B

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on May 12 that U.S. credit-card balances fell by $25 billion in the first quarter of 2026, leaving outstanding balances at $1.25 trillion. The decline came in the New York Fed's Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, which tracks borrowing using the Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample drawn from Equifax credit reports. Total household debt still edged up by $18 billion in the quarter to $18.8 trillion, as mortgage, home-equity line and auto-loan balances rose. The New York Fed said the drop in card balances was the main reason non-housing debt fell by $15 billion, or 0.3%, from the prior quarter. ### How far did credit-card balances fall from the prior quarter? The first-quarter total of $1.25 trillion compared with $1.28 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the New York Fed's data tables. That means card balances gave back part of the increase recorded at the end of 2025, when balances had risen by $44 billion from the prior quarter. (newyorkfed.org) The New York Fed described the first-quarter decline as seasonal. On its Household Debt and Credit page, the bank said the drop in non-housing debt was driven primarily by a seasonal decrease in credit-card balances. In a 2025 Liberty Street Economics post discussing similar first-quarter patterns, New York Fed researchers said such declines are typically associated with consumers paying down holiday spending from the fourth quarter. (newyorkfed.org) That earlier explanation provides context for the latest quarter, though the May 12 report itself did not add a broader interpretation beyond calling the decline seasonal. ### What else moved in household debt during the quarter? Mortgage balances rose by $21 billion in the first quarter to $13.19 trillion, the New York Fed said. Home-equity line balances increased by $12 billion to $446 billion, marking the 16th straight quarterly increase, while auto-loan balances rose by $18 billion to $1.69 trillion. Student-loan balances were essentially flat, slipping by $6 billion to $1.66 trillion, and other balances, including retail cards and consumer finance loans, edged down by $2 billion to $562 billion. (newyorkfed.org) The $18.8 trillion total for household debt was up only slightly from the end of 2025, the report said. The New York Fed said $530 billion in new mortgages appeared on credit reports in the quarter, and $182 billion in new auto loans did as well. Aggregate credit-card limits continued to rise, increasing by $60 billion in the first quarter. (newyorkfed.org) ### Did delinquency rates improve or worsen? As of the end of March 2026, 4.8% of outstanding household debt was in some stage of delinquency, roughly unchanged from the prior quarter, according to the New York Fed. The bank said transitions into early delinquency ticked down for credit cards, to 8.6% on an annualized basis from 8.7%, and for mortgages, to 3.8% from 3.9%. (newyorkfed.org) Credit-card transitions into serious delinquency were mostly unchanged, the report said. Student-loan delinquency trends moved more sharply: the transition rate into serious delinquency, measured as a four-quarter moving sum, fell to 10.9% in the first quarter from 16.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting a slower pace of new student-loan delinquencies than a year earlier, the New York Fed said. (newyorkfed.org) ### Where do these figures come from? The New York Fed said the report is based on its Consumer Credit Panel, which is built from a nationally representative random sample of Equifax credit-report data. The quarterly release is published by the bank's Center for Microeconomic Data and is intended as a snapshot of household borrowing, debt balances and delinquencies across mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student loans. (newyorkfed.org) A May 5 media advisory from the New York Fed said the first-quarter 2026 report would capture consumer credit data as of the end of March 2026. The bank released the report on May 12 and posted the accompanying data through its Household Debt and Credit pages and data bank. (newyorkfed.org 1) (newyorkfed.org 2)