US household borrowing rose another 1% in the second quarter, lifting total consumer debt to a record $18.39 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Mortgages remained the dominant category at $12.94 trillion after a $131 billion quarterly increase, while credit-card balances expanded by $27 billion to $1.21 trillion and auto-loan balances by $13 billion to $1.66 trillion. Home-equity credit lines advanced for a 13th straight quarter, reaching $411 billion, and outstanding student-loan debt edged up to $1.64 trillion. The overall share of debt in some stage of delinquency held at an elevated 4.4%, but the composition shifted. Mortgages and home-equity loans showed only a slight uptick in early distress and credit-card and auto-loan performance was broadly stable. By contrast, the resumption of normal reporting for education debt after the pandemic moratorium triggered a sharp deterioration in student-loan credit quality. About 12.9% of student-loan balances transitioned into serious delinquency (90 days or more past due) during the quarter, the highest rate in the 21-year history of the data. That flow pushed the stock of student loans that are already 90-plus days delinquent to 10.2% of the total, up from 9% in the previous quarter. “This quarter’s flow of household debt into serious delinquency was mixed across debt types, with student loans continuing to rise and mortgages edging up slightly,” said Joelle Scally, an economic policy adviser at the New York Fed. The report added that Federal Housing Administration mortgages—often used by first-time buyers—are showing the fastest increase in missed payments, particularly in Southern states, though overall mortgage performance remains strong by historical standards. New York Fed researchers said they expect student-loan delinquencies to drift higher in coming quarters, a trend that could weigh on consumer spending as high interest rates and slower hiring squeeze household finances.