Federal Student Lending Swells

Josh Mitchell:

U.S. student-loan debt rose by $42 billion, or 4.6%, to $956 billion in the third quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday. Overall household borrowing fell during that period.

Payments on 11% of student-loan balances were 90 or more days behind at the end of September, up from 8.9% at the end of June, a rate that now exceeds that for credit cards. Delinquency rates for all other consumer-debt categories fell or were flat.

Nearly all student loans--93% of them last year--are made directly by the government, which asks little or nothing about borrowers' ability to repay, or about what sort of education they intend to pursue.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 1, 2012 3:33 AM
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