4 ms·

I thought the Fed only counted the carried balance. So folks who pay in full every month are not counted. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything defini

I thought the Fed only counted the carried balance. So folks who pay in full every month are not counted. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything definitive.

judge2020 3y ago
I was able to find it by going from the cnet article to to the Fed's press release, then to the report, then the 'downloads' button, then the PDF[0]. in it: > Credit utilization rates (for revolving accounts). Computed as proportion of available credit in use (outstanding balance divided by credit limit), and for reasons discussed above are likely to overestimate actual credit utilization. 0: https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2023Q2 https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/househo...
prepend 3y ago
I would expect that they are only able to see the current balance. For me, I charge and pay every month so never pay interest. But my credit report always shows a 2-5k balance (or whatever I charged). Theoretically, if I paid off the balance BEFORE my statement period ends it would show $0, but I never do this because I have 25 days of 0% interest to pay, so I do. I don’t think credit reports track interest paid but that would be one way to track if it’s “real” credit card debt or people just cycling. But also you could look at average. I average $3k over the past 10-30 years or whatever. If this increased to some new stable level it would mean an increase in income. But if it increased at some rate or increased sporadically then it means I’m taking on more debt. So I expect if credit card debt increases in total it probably means more debt and not more people paying their balance in full each month.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  Or it means inflation. I've also had credit report hiccups because of the "debt" on my credit card.

4 ms·

I thought the Fed only counted the carried balance. So folks who pay in full every month are not counted. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything defini

by djbusby 3y ago

I thought the Fed only counted the carried balance. So folks who pay in full every month are not counted. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything definitive.

judge2020 3y ago
I was able to find it by going from the cnet article to to the Fed's press release, then to the report, then the 'downloads' button, then the PDF[0]. in it: > Credit utilization rates (for revolving accounts). Computed as proportion of available credit in use (outstanding balance divided by credit limit), and for reasons discussed above are likely to overestimate actual credit utilization. 0: https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2023Q2 https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/househo...
prepend 3y ago
I would expect that they are only able to see the current balance. For me, I charge and pay every month so never pay interest. But my credit report always shows a 2-5k balance (or whatever I charged). Theoretically, if I paid off the balance BEFORE my statement period ends it would show $0, but I never do this because I have 25 days of 0% interest to pay, so I do. I don’t think credit reports track interest paid but that would be one way to track if it’s “real” credit card debt or people just cycling. But also you could look at average. I average $3k over the past 10-30 years or whatever. If this increased to some new stable level it would mean an increase in income. But if it increased at some rate or increased sporadically then it means I’m taking on more debt. So I expect if credit card debt increases in total it probably means more debt and not more people paying their balance in full each month.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  Or it means inflation. I've also had credit report hiccups because of the "debt" on my credit card.