[lbo-talk] charge-offs

[Doug Henwood]

By the way, there has been a lot of walking away from debt over the last few years. According to FDIC data, banks have written off about $150 billion in credit card debt since 2008 - about 37% of the outstanding balance at the beginning of the period, or 22% of the most recent total. For mortgages, the numbers are smaller - about $102 billion, or 5% of the amount outstanding. That may not look so big, but the quarterly average is more than 11 times the historical (1990-2006) average. For credit cards, the charge-off rate is about 71% higher than the 1990-2006 average.

Also, about 9% of outstanding mortgages are past due - more than 10 times the 1990-2006 average, and down only slightly from the peak in 2010.

Doug