U.S. Student Debt Exceeds $1 Trillion as Delinquency Rate Increases to as High as One Third

By Jodie Gummow

March 20, 2014  |  As Americans continue to struggle to pay off their increasing debts, a new report reveals the highest delinquency rate belongs to student loans amounting to $1.08 trillion, Forbesreported [3].

 

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report [4], student loans are higher than credit cards, mortgages and auto loans with 11.5 percent of student loan balances 90 or more days in default.

The outstanding student loan balances increase represents an increase of $114 billion for 2013.  What’s more, a closer inspection of the figures released from the report reveals a much more gloomier economic picture than first realized.  According to Credit.com [5], that 11.5 percent figure is really closer to 23 percent because only about half of the overall debt is actually amortizing.