US Household Debt Surges to Record $17.8 Trillion

U.S. households took on more debt in the second quarter, but overall delinquency rates stabilized from the previous three-month period, suggesting that consumers could still prop up the national economy, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed’s latest report—a quarterly assessment of household debt and credit conditions—found that total household debt increased by $109 billion, or 0.6 percent, to $17.8 trillion in the second quarter. In the three-month period ending in June, mortgage debt surged by $77 billion, to a record $12.52 trillion. Credit card debt reached an all-time high of $1.142 trillion, up $27 billion from the previous quarter and $111 billion from the same time a year ago....