The United States' household outstanding loan balance and arrears situation showed slight improvement in the second quarter.
According to the second-quarter household debt and credit report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Aug. 11, U.S. total household debt stood at $18.8 trillion as of the end of June, down $13 billion (0.1%) from the previous quarter.
Of total household debt, the share 30 days or more in arrears was 4.7%, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter.
The New York Fed said, "The transition into early delinquency rose for auto loans and mortgage loans, but remained largely stable for credit cards and other liabilities."
The transition into early delinquency is one of the leading indicators of household fiscal soundness, referring to the share of loan accounts newly entering the short-term arrears bucket from a normal repayment status.
At the end of the second quarter, the credit card outstanding loan balance totaled $1.26 trillion, up $21 billion from the previous quarter.
Among the credit card outstanding loan balance, the share 90 days or more in arrears edged down to 12.9% in the second quarter from 13.1% in the first, but remained elevated.
For card outstanding loan balances, the share 90 days or more in arrears had been on a steep multi-year uptrend from 7.6% in the third quarter of 2022.
In a separate blog post the same day, New York Fed researchers analyzed that the backdrop to the rising share of 90-days-plus card arrears was lenders keeping credit records on file for a longer period.
The researchers noted, "A metric that more accurately reflects consumers' current loan repayment behavior is the newly flowing-into arrears rate," adding, "This metric has remained relatively stable for a second year."