Federal Reserve

Latest Guides

  • Financial Statistics on Consumer Debt
    Every quarter since 1980, the Federal Reserve has published the Household Debt Service and Financial Obligations Ratios that measure the ratio of debt payments to personal disposable income. See the financial statistics from these studies here.

Latest Blog Posts

  • Friday Grab Bag - 3/5/2010
    It's Friday again, and that means it's time for the weekly SpendOnLife grab bag! Here we share some of the week's more interesting tidbits from the world of credit and identity theft. Enjoy!
  • Credit Card Statistics
    How much credit card debt do American consumers hold? The Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances offers authoritative credit card debt statistics.
  • Are You Irresponsible with Your Credit Card?
    Credit card debt is pretty much a black or white situation. There’s nothing gray about it. You either used your credit card responsibly or you used it...well, less responsibly.
  • Is My Mother's Bank Better?
    I've never given my mother's neighborhood bank much credit. It doesn't have a fancy online interface that can pay bills or offer paperless statements as neatly as, say, Bank of America does. But a recent Supreme Court ruling made me wonder if smaller banks are actually better.
  • Federal Reserve: Consumer Debt Keeps Dropping
    The Federal Reserve has just released consumer spending trends for the month of March. Here are the figures: Credit card borrowing fell by 6.8%. That's $5.4 billion saved! (Not as impressive as the $9.7 billion saved in February of this year, but still...)