Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

10/16/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/16/2026 07:16

Consumer Credit Insights: Rising Delinquencies in the Third District States

New data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Consumer Credit Explorer (CCE) offer insights into consumer credit conditions in the Federal Reserve's Third District1 states: Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This article uses data from the CCE to highlight key trends in consumer debt as of the second quarter of 2026 (Q2 2026).2

Overall, average balances and the share of consumers with debt have remained relatively steady over the past year across most types of debt. However, for auto and credit card borrowers, the share of borrowers with severely delinquent debt has continued to climb, and for student loan borrowers, the share remains volatile but high. The share of mortgage borrowers with severely delinquent debt has also been slowly rising but remains very low. The percentage of consumers with debt in collections also continues to rise across most geographies. The remainder of this article focuses specifically on debt types showing signs of stress and explores differences across Third District geographies and borrower characteristics.

High Delinquency Rates Across Auto, Credit Card, and Student Loans

Across the region, the shares of borrowers with delinquent auto, credit card, and student loan debt have been elevated, trending similarly with those of the nation overall. In the past year, both auto and credit card delinquencies reached their highest levels in over 20 years, surpassing peaks from both the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nationally, 9.3 percent of auto borrowers have severely delinquent debt, compared with 10.3 percent in Delaware, 7.9 percent in Pennsylvania, and 7 percent in New Jersey - all at least 0.5 percentage point higher than a year earlier despite a slight decline in Q2 2026.3

Credit card delinquencies have continued to climb, with the share of credit card borrowers carrying severely delinquent debt ranging from 12 percent in New Jersey to 14.7 percent in Delaware.4Recent research reveals much of this increase stems from the accumulation of older charged-off debts rather than a surge in new delinquencies. However, the trend remains relevant to borrowers' financial health, as charge-offs can continue to be reported to credit bureaus, and lenders may try to collect these still-outstanding debts from borrowers.

Student loan delinquencies have been fluctuating after the drastic spike last year that followed the end of the pandemic-era pause on reporting missed payments.5 After an uptick in Q2 2026, the share of student loan borrowers with severely delinquent debt currently ranges from 11.9 to 14.1 percent across the three states.


The Share of Consumers with Debt in Collections Climbs

Beyond delinquencies, other indicators of consumer credit health show mixed trends across the region. For Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the U.S. overall, the share of consumers with debt in collections rose at least 0.8 percentage point over the past year, reaching 13.8 percent nationally, 12.8 percent in Pennsylvania, and 10.4 percent in New Jersey.6 Rising debt in collections, which can remain on credit reports for up to seven years even after resolution, may signal longer-term impacts on consumer credit access.

Delaware showed a different pattern, declining from 15.1 percent to 13.7 percent over the past year. This drop may reflect a new state policy that took effect in Q4 2025 prohibiting medical debt from appearing on consumer credit reports.7 Medical bills make up most collection actions but tend to be for relatively small amounts.8


Credit Stress Concentrates in Specific Metropolitan Areas

Consumers across the region show different levels of credit health, with some areas showing more signs of strain. The Vineland, NJ metropolitan area (metro) and the Dover, DE metro in particular show more strain across auto, credit card, and student loan debt. For example, 14.4 percent of auto borrowers in the Vineland metro and 11.6 percent in the Dover metro have severely delinquent debt, versus 9.3 percent in the nation. Both metro areas have historically exhibited higher levels of credit stress relative to the region, reflected in part by persistently elevated subprime borrower rates.


Disparities Visible Across Borrower and Neighborhood Characteristics

While credit stress is evident across the region, these aggregate trends mask persistent disparities across borrower and neighborhood characteristics. Borrowers under 55 years old, those with nonprime credit scores, and those in neighborhoods that are low- and moderate-income (LMI) or majority people of color (POC) tend to be more likely to have severely delinquent debt compared with borrowers 55 and older, those with prime credit scores, and those in middle- and upper-income (MUI) or majority non-Hispanic White neighborhoods.9

For example, the share of Pennsylvania credit card borrowers with severely delinquent debt in LMI or majority-POC neighborhoods (24 percent and 29 percent, respectively) is more than double the rate for those in MUI or majority non-Hispanic White neighborhoods (both 11 percent). Age differences follow a similar pattern, with delinquency rates of 15 to 18 percent of Pennsylvania credit card borrowers under 55 years old compared with 10 percent for borrowers 55 and older.

Consistent with historical trends, the delinquency rate gap between nonprime and prime borrowers is largest, with more than half of nonprime Pennsylvania credit card borrowers having severely delinquent debt versus just over 1 percent for those with prime scores. While delinquency rates have risen at similar rates across all these groups, the gaps between them remain substantial.

National trends pointing to elevated rates of consumers with delinquent auto, credit card, and student loan debt are evident across the Third District states, although the stress appears uneven, with particular strain evident among younger borrowers, LMI and majority-POC neighborhoods, and certain metropolitan areas. Rising collections further illustrate these patterns. To explore these and other trends - including HELOCs and total debt - across additional geographies and borrower characteristics, visit the Consumer Credit Explorer.

  1. The author thanks Joe Budash, Lei Ding, Eileen Divringi, Dubravka Ritter, Larry Santucci, and Sisi Zhang for the helpful comments. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author.
  2. The Federal Reserve's Third District is a region that covers eastern and central Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Data shown are for the entirety of each state.
  3. All series included in this article are publicly available via the Consumer Credit Explorer (CCE), an interactive tool for examining quarterly trends in consumer credit use at the regional, state, and national levels. The tool's series are generated using the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax Data, which is a nationally representative data set of anonymized individual credit files. Refer to the CCE for more details on data and methodology.
  4. Auto debt is debt from auto loans from monoline automobile finance companies as well as lenders that provide a wider range of consumer financial products, such as banks or credit unions. The percentage of auto borrowers with severely delinquent auto debt is calculated as the number of auto borrowers with at least one severely delinquent auto account divided by the number of borrowers with auto debt greater than $0.
  5. Credit card debt is debt from general-purpose credit cards and excludes both debit cards and credit cards for use at specific retailers. Calculated as the number of credit card borrowers with at least one severely delinquent credit card account divided by the number of borrowers with credit card debt greater than $0.
  6. Student loan debt is debt from student loans originated by the federal government or private lenders. The percentage of student loan borrowers with severely delinquent student loan debt is calculated as the number of student loan borrowers with at least one severely delinquent student loan account divided by the number of borrowers with student loan debt greater than $0.
  7. Debt in collections refers to consumers with at least one third-party collection recorded on their credit report. Resolved collections may appear on credit reports for up to seven years.
  8. A new Delaware law took effect in Q4 2025 that prohibits the inclusion of medical debt on consumer credit reports. Between Q3 and Q4 2025, the share of Delaware borrowers with debt in collections fell from 15 percent to 13.1 percent.
  9. According to a Federal Reserve Bulletin and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, medical bills make up the majority of collection actions but tend to be for small amounts, with a median medical tradeline of $207. Medical trades are not included in any of the other CCE series besides collections to the extent they are reported, e.g., the share of consumers with debt or severely delinquent debt do not include medical tradelines.
  10. Borrower age is calculated based on the birth year included in an individual's credit file. Nonprime refers to consumers with a VantageScore 4.0 credit score less than 660. Scores range from 300 to 850, with a lower score indicating a higher risk of future delinquency. This does not include consumers who are unscored. Prime refers to consumers with a VantageScore 4.0 credit score greater than or equal to 660.

    Low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods are census tracts in which the 2016-2020 American Community Survey (ACS) median family income (MFI) is less than 80 percent of the MFI in the associated metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or non-MSA counties in the state, while middle- and upper-income (MUI) neighborhoods are census tracts in which the MFI is greater than or equal to 80 percent.

    Majority-people of color (POC) neighborhoods are census tracts in which more than 50 percent of residents identify their race as anything other than White alone or their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino in the 2016-2020 ACS, while majority non-Hispanic White neighborhoods are census tracts in which more than 50 percent of residents identify their race as White alone and their ethnicity as non-Hispanic.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia published this content on October 16, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 16, 2026 at 13:16 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]