Federal Reserve Board - Consumer Credit - G.19 (2024)

About RSS Data Download

Part I. What Consumer Credit Data Are Available on the G.19 Statistical Release, "Consumer Credit," and How Are These Data Calculated?

The G.19 Statistical Release, "Consumer Credit," reports outstanding credit extended to individuals for household, family, and other personal expenditures, excluding loans secured by real estate. Total consumer credit comprises two major types: revolving and nonrevolving. Revolving credit plans may be unsecured or secured by collateral and allow a consumer to borrow up to a prearranged limit and repay the debt in one or more installments. Credit card loans comprise most of revolving consumer credit measured in the G.19, but other types, such as prearranged overdraft plans, are also included. Nonrevolving credit is closed-end credit extended to consumers that is repaid on a prearranged repayment schedule and may be secured or unsecured. To borrow additional funds, the consumer must enter into an additional contract with the lender. Consumer motor vehicle and education loans comprise the majority of nonrevolving credit, but other loan types, such as boat loans, recreational vehicle loans, and personal loans, are also included.

The G.19 also reports selected terms of credit, including interest rates on new car loans, personal loans, and credit card plans at commercial banks. Historically, the G.19 also included series that measure the terms of credit for motor vehicle loans at finance companies. In the first quarter of 2011, publication of these series was temporarily suspended because of the deterioration of their statistical foundation. The statistical foundation is in the process of being improved, and publication will resume as soon as possible.

Annual Growth Rates, Levels, and Flows of Outstanding Credit

The first table of the G.19 shows seasonally adjusted data for consumer credit outstanding. These data include simple annual percent changes of total, revolving, and nonrevolving credit. The percent change in a given period is calculated as the flow of credit in the current period divided by the level in the previous period. The seasonally adjusted levels of outstanding total, revolving, and nonrevolving credit are also given in the first table. Percent changes and levels are calculated from unrounded data.

The second and third pages of the G.19 show data that are not seasonally adjusted. The second page contains levels of outstanding credit held by seven major holders, while the third page contains flow of credit by these major holders. These major holders are depository institutions, finance companies, credit unions, the federal government, nonfinancial business, and nonprofit and educational institutions. Historically, the G.19 comprised seven major holders. In June 2012, data for commercial banks and savings institutions were combined to form the depository institutions sector. In June 2020, the G.19 stopped reporting the levels and flows of on-book loan balances and off-book securitized loan balances separately. Additionally, the second and third pages of the G.19 contain two memo items that report levels and flows of student loans and motor vehicle loans outstanding.

Securitized Loans

Off-balance-sheet securitized loans are no longer reported separately. Instead, the G.19 release reports aggregate balances of total owned and managed receivables—the sum of on-book and off-book loan balances. As a result of the FASB 166/167 accounting rules implementation in 2010, which required the majority of securitized assets to be reported as on-book, off-book asset balances have diminished, with most of them becoming and remaining at zero in recent years. As of January 2020, the only sector where off-balance sheet securitized loans have been reported is the depository institutions sector.

Benchmark and Indicator Data

We estimate monthly consumer credit for each major holder using benchmark and indicator data. Benchmark data are the most comprehensive and accurate measure of outstanding credit in each sector. These data may come from either mandatory or voluntary surveys. Because of their large scope, benchmark data are collected at a lower frequency than the monthly G.19. Indicator data, however, allow us to measure the monthly movements between benchmarks. Indicator series are data whose movements represent changes in outstanding credit for the entire sector. For example, the indicator for depository institutions is generated from a voluntary weekly report filed by a sample of commercial banks. If revolving credit increases by a given percentage at this panel of banks, it is probable that revolving credit increased by this percentage at all depository institutions.

Generating Monthly Estimates: Not Seasonally Adjusted Levels

The monthly estimates on the second page of the G.19 are calculated from indicator data using proportional interpolation.1 Proportional interpolation solves the following optimization problem:

where t = 0 is the previous benchmark period and t = T is the current or upcoming benchmark period. In addition, , and are the monthly estimate and indicator at time t, respectively, and is the benchmark at time t. Proportional interpolation minimizes the sum of the squared differences between the ratio of the estimate to the indicator in each month and the oneprevious, subject to the constraint that the estimate equals the benchmark in each benchmark period. The solution to this optimization problem is:

Because we do not know the value of before we have reached month T, we extrapolate its value by using the ratio in the prior benchmark period. If the extrapolation entailsholding this ratio constant, then the estimate simplifies to

That is, the monthly estimate in time t equals the value of the benchmark at the last benchmark period (specifically, time 0) multiplied by the growth rate of the indicator between time 0 and time t. When the next benchmark month T arrives, we revise the monthly estimates, as appropriate.

Generating Monthly Estimates: Not Seasonally Adjusted Flows

The flows shown on the third page of the G.19 are calculated as break-adjusted period-to-period changes in the corresponding levels on the second page. Flows are break-adjusted in order to account for changes or discontinuities in source data or changes in methodology. It is important to excludethe effect of such breaks because they are not representative of real movements in outstanding consumer credit. For example, if a financial institution in the scope of the G.19 sells loans to an institution outside the scope of the G.19, the estimates of total consumer credit will decline. However,such a sale is not indicative of a real decline in outstanding credit held by households, in which case a break in the series is recorded so that growth rates may be calculated excluding this break.

Generating Monthly Estimates: Seasonally Adjusted Annual Growth Rates and Total Consumer Credit

We estimate seasonal factors for revolving and nonrevolving credit separately. The seasonal factor series is benchmarked annually before the September G.19 using 10 years (120 months) of historical data. We then apply the seasonal factors estimated for the calendar year immediately prior to thebenchmarking month to the consumer credit estimates of the ensuing year.

Let denote the level of a series in time t. The monthly flow of the series, is then computed as

where denotes the corresponding break series. The seasonally adjusted flow series can be calculated as

where is the seasonal factor series estimated using the statistical package X-12-ARIMA. The algorithm forces the seasonal factors estimated from Januaryto December in any given year to sum to zero. The seasonally adjusted level series is then defined recursively as

The seasonally adjusted monthly growth rate is defined as

Part II. Source Data: Consumer Credit Outstanding

Depository Institutions2

Benchmark Data

Estimates of consumer credit held by depository institutions are benchmarked to quarterly data from the Consolidated Reports of Income and Condition (Call Report) (FFIEC 031 and 0413). This mandatory report is filed by every national bank, state member bank, insured state nonmember bank, and savings association and includes an income statement, balance sheet, and other detailed financial information.4 Specifically, we aggregate data on loans available in Call Report schedules RC-C, Loans and Lease Financing Receivables, RC-D, Trading Assets and Liabilities (table 1), and RC-S Servicing Securitization and Asset Sale Activities.

Table 1. FFIEC 031 and 041 Call Report Items in Depository Institutions Benchmark

Owned
Revolving credit = Credit card loans + other revolving credit
Credit card loans: RCONB538 - (RCONF586 - RCONF598) + RCONF633
Other revolving credit: RCONB539 - (RCONF587 - RCONF599) + RCONF634
Nonrevolving credit = Consumer motor vehicle Loans + other consumer loans
Consumer motor vehicle loans: RCONK137 - (RCONK196 - RCONK195) + RCONK200
Other consumer loans: RCONK207 - (RCONK208 - RCONK209) + RCONK211
Securitized
Credit Card Loans = RCFDB707
Auto Loans = RCFDB708
Other Loans = RCFDB709

May include loans reported either at market value or book value.

This term adjusted for any market value loans reported in the previous item. We make market-to-book adjustments by subtracting the amount of any loans that are reported at market value and adding back their unpaid principal balance.

Unpaid principal balance of loans held as trading assets.

Indicator Data

Monthly estimates for depository institutions are generated from the Weekly Report of Selected Assets and Liabilities of Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks and U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FR 2644).5 Data collected for this report include the outstanding amount of selected balance sheet items, including items on loans, securities, and borrowings from a sample of member and nonmember domestically chartered commercial banks and U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks. The panel consists of an authorized random stratified sample of about 875 domestically chartered commercial banks and U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks. Participation in the survey is voluntary. See table 2 for the specific FR 2644 line items used in our calculations.

Securitized Assets

Depository institutions off-balance-sheet data come from the Call Report schedule RC-S Servicing Securitization and Asset Sale Activities. No monthly indicator data off-balance-sheet data is available at this time.

Table 2. FR 2644 Items in Indicator for Depository Institutions

To convert these data to a monthly frequency, we linearly interpolate between data for the last Wednesday of the G.19 month and the first Wednesday of the following month as follows:

where is the indicator value in month t, w is the last Wednesday of the G.19 month, and d is the number of days between the last Wednesday and last day of the G.19 month.

Finance Companies

Benchmark Data

Every five years since 1955, the Federal Reserve has conducted the Finance Company Survey (FR 3033s), which is sent to a stratified random sample of finance and mortgage companies. In the most recent survey, the Board surveyed roughly 2,400 finance companies to collect balance sheet data as of December 2010. Approximately 1,000 companies responded. The survey comprises detailed information from both sides of the respondents' balance sheets. See table 3 for the specific items used in our calculations.

Table 3. FR 3033s Items in Benchmark for Finance Companies

Owned

Revolving credit = Revolving consumer credit

Revolving consumer credit: QFCS1682 (item 3.B.2)

Nonrevolving credit = Consumer motor vehicle loans + other consumer loans

Consumer motor vehicle loans: QFCS2751 (item 3.B.1)

Other consumer loans: QFCS1987 (item 3.B.3)

On-balance-sheet loans.

Indicator Data

Indicator data for finance companies are collected from the Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (FR 2248). This report collects balance sheet and, where appropriate, off-balance-sheet data on major categories of consumer and business credit receivables and on major short-term liabilities held or securitized by finance companies. For quarter-end months (March, June, September, and December), additional asset and liability items are collected to provide a full balance sheet. The Board is currently authorized to survey 70 companies each month; because of consolidation and attrition, the current reporting panel consists of a random sample of about 50 companies. See table 4 for the specific items used in our calculations.

Securitized Assets

Finance company off-balance-sheet data come from the Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (FR 2248). (See table 6 for the FR 2248 line items used in our calculations.) We continue to monitor markets for new and existing securitizations at finance companies that do not submit form FR 2248. As of January 2020, no responding companies report any off-balance-sheet assets.

Table 4. FR 2248 Items in Indicator for Finance Companies

Credit Unions

Benchmark Data

Data provided by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA)5 is benchmarked quarterly.

Indicator Data

Monthly data is provided by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) on total loans outstanding and distribution of loans. These data are used to create monthly estimates of revolving, nonrevolving vehicle, and nonrevolving other loans held by credit unions.

Federal Government6

Benchmark Data

The federal government originates consumer credit solely in the form of nonrevolving student loans through the Department of Education (DoEd). The federal government sector on the G.19 includes student loans issued through the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program (DLP) and the Perkins Loan Program, as well as the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that the government purchased under the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). Quarterly benchmark data for the federal student loan programs are published by the DoEd and can be found on the following link: https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/portfolio.

Indicator Data

Monthly data for DLP loans as well as for FFELP loans purchased by the government are provided by the DoEd. Perkins loans are linearly interpolated between benchmark periods.

Nonprofit and Educational Institutions

Benchmark Data

The nonprofit and educational institutions sector includes only FFELP loans held by state affiliated nonprofit lenders and schools. Benchmark data are published by the DoEd under the top 100 entities holding FFELP loans, which are inflated to reflect holdings by all entities.

Indicator Data

Since data for FFELP loans held by nonprofit and educational institutions are not available at a monthly frequency, the indicator used for this series is FFELP loans holdings by the DoEd, also referred to as ECASLA loans.

Nonfinancial Business

Benchmark Data

Monthly estimates for the nonfinancial business sector are benchmarked to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Retail Trade Report, which samples employer businesses classified in the retail trade sector. This report contains information about sales, inventories, purchases, expenses, margins, and accounts receivable for a sample of businesses in the retail trade sector.7 The report includes accounts receivable data that measure amounts owed to retail stores by their customers for purchases made on credit. Revolving and nonrevolving credit are benchmarked to total open-end and closed-end retail accounts receivable, respectively.

Indicator Data

Since suitable data for credit held by the nonfinancial business sector are not available at a monthly frequency, the indicators for these series are the seasonal factors for the remaining G.19 sectors.8 Because these series by construction closely follow the typical seasonal pattern within each year, their monthly movements have little effect on the seasonally adjusted growth in total consumer credit.

Securitized Assets

We also monitor markets for off-balance-sheet securitizations at nonfinancial businesses, although at this time we are not aware of any such securitizations.

Part III. Student and Motor Vehicle Loans Memo Items

Student Loans Memo Item

This memo item reflects the total student loan debt outstanding (including accrued interest and defaulted federal loans) on a quarterly basis, starting with 2006 Q1. The estimate is constructed by summing up the federal student loans outstanding issued under the Direct Loan, Federal Family Education Loan, and Perkins programs, as well as private (non-guaranteed) student loans. The estimates for federal student loans are benchmarked against those published by the Department of Education (https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/portfolio). The estimates for private student loans are produced using data from Enterval Analytics9.

Motor Vehicle Loans Memo Item

This memo item reflects the total owned and securitized motor vehicle loan debt outstanding on a quarterly basis. Included are passenger cars and other vehicles such as minivans, vans, sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and similar light trucks for personal use. Boats, motorcycles, and recreational vehicles are not included. The estimate is constructed by summing motor vehicle loans held and managed by depository institutions, finance companies, credit unions, and nonfinancial business.

Part IV: Terms of Credit at Commercial Banks and Finance Companies

Commercial Banks' Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve Board collects quarterly data on interest rates for 48-month new-car loans (item 7802) and 24-month personal credit card plans (item 7808) through the Quarterly Report of Interest Rates on Selected Direct Consumer Installment Loans (FR 2835). Banks are asked to report the "most common rate" for each type of loan-that is, the rate at which the largest dollar volume of loans was made during the reporting period. For variable-rate loans, the initial rate is used in determining the most common rate. These data are neither benchmarked nor seasonally adjusted. The Board is authorized to survey 150 companies, and the responses are voluntary; as of November 2011, about 75 banks report regularly.

The Quarterly Report of Credit Card Interest Rates (FR 2835a) is used to collect data from commercial banks on their average nominal finance rates, total finance charges for credit card accounts, and end-of-period balances for credit card accounts.

The interest rate on all accounts represents the average annual percentage rate (APR) offered to all credit card holders and is independent of the manner in which the accounts are actually used. This interest rate is calculated using the respondent banks' nominal finance rates on all accounts, which is a simple average of the nominal APR for purchases across all accounts (item 7164), weighted by their total number of accounts (item 8601). The interest rate on accounts assessed interest, however, measures the average finance rate for cardholders who revolve their balances to obtain credit during the period of the report. This interest rate is calculated using the respondent banks' average annual finance rates, weighted by their total balances for accounts with finance charges (item 8603). Each bank's average annual finance rate is calculated as

The panel is a sample of 50 credit card issuing banks, consisting of the largest issuers of credit cards and a randomly drawn sample representing the remainder of the bankcard industry. Participation is voluntary; as of November 2011, approximately 40 banks report regularly.

Finance Companies' Terms of Credit

The finance companies new car loan terms of credit series are produced from Experian's AutoCount Risk Report, and encompass the majority of captive and non-captive finance companies in the United States. Data are not seasonally adjusted.

Included in the G.19 Data Download are four discontinued series for the average APR, maturity, loan-to-value ratio, and amount financed for new car loans at captive auto finance companies. Publication was ceased after January 2011, and the series are no longer shown on the G.19 report. The FR2512 form sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board for collecting the underlying data was also discontinued.

Historical Performance Evaluations

December 2022

December 2019

December 2016

December 2013

December 2011

Back to Top