Just Released: Cleaning Up Collections
Household debt balances continued their upward trend in the second quarter, with increases in mortgage, auto, and credit card balances, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit from the New York Fed’s Center for Microeconomic Data. Student loans were roughly flat, a typical seasonal pattern in the second quarter. The Quarterly Report contains summaries of the types of information that is covered in credit reports, sourced from the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel (CCP). The CCP is based on anonymized Equifax credit reports and is the source for the analysis provided in this post, which focuses on an area that until recently has received little attention: collections accounts.
Do Credit Markets Watch the Waving Flag of Bankruptcy?
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham explores how the lifting of bankruptcy flags affects borrowers’ credit scores and credit outcomes.
Is Health Insurance Good for Your Financial Health?
What is the purpose of health care? What is the purpose of health insurance? When people fall ill, they seek health care in order to get better. But insurance has a slightly different function: Its main role is not to protect our health per se, but to protect our finances. For most people, lifetime health expenditures are quite low. However, some people have enormous health costs owing to major illnesses or health conditions. And this is where health insurance comes in—its goal (like that of any other form of insurance) is to protect these individuals against large, and sometimes ruinous, health expenditures. Has the recent health reform served this purpose?
Just Released: New and Improved Charts and Data on Auto Loans
This analysis introduces an improved estimate of auto loan originations, some new charts, and some fresh data on the auto loan market based on New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel data.
Looking at Student Loan Defaults through a Larger Window
An analysis of student loan borrower distress uncovers some new facts. First, cohort default rates appear to have been worsening over time, Second, defaults appear to be concentrated among the lowest-balance borrowers, who may not have completed their schooling, or may have earned credentials with lower payoffs than a four-year college degree. Finally, snapshots of delinquency and default rates miss the fact that many borrowers who are current today have had serious stress in the past.
Just Released: Has Household Deleveraging Continued?
Today’s release of the 2012Q2 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit indicates a continuation of the downward trend in household debt, which followed a long period of substantial increases.
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