Consumers Continue to Pay Down Debt

The average consumer is doing what some in Congress say should not be done....creating some light at the end of the debt tunnel. According the FDIC, mortgage loan balance totals outstanding in the U.S. continue to be paid down at rapid rates. Total mortgage loans were down by $64 billion or about 3.50% for the first quarter of 2011. Also in the FDIC’s report for the 1^st Quarter was news that consumers paid down their credit card debts to the tune of $25 billion. That amounts to a decrease of about 8% in those balances.

In fact, loan demand overall among FDIC insured institutions in the 1^st Quarter continued to fall with total loan and lease balances down $126.6 billion or about 1.7%. This was the fifth-largest quarterly percentage decline in loan balances for the entire 28 years that data has been kept. Over the last eleven quarters ten were reported to have loan balances falling.

Consumers Continue to Pay Down Debt