Household Debt Ratios Are Lowest Since 1990s

The chart above is an update of previous CD posts (most recent one here), showing the ongoing de-leveraging of U.S. households based on new data released yesterday by the Federal Reserve.

In the second quarter of 2011, household debt service for required payments on outstanding mortgage and consumer debt as a share of disposable personal income fell to 11.09%, the lowest ratio since the fourth quarter of 1994; and the ratio for all household financial obligations (adds automobile lease payments, rental payments on tenant-occupied property, homeowners' insurance and property tax payments to the debt service ratio) fell to 16.09%, the lowest ratio since the fourth quarter of 1993. 

Let that be a lesson for Congress.....