In June 2021, the CFPB issued a blog post, Delinquencies on credit accounts continue to be low despite the pandemic. Today’s posting is the
first in a series documenting trends in consumer credit outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last August, we published a report on early trends in consumer credit outcomes through June 2020, which found largely positive trends in those outcomes despite widespread economic hardship due to the pandemic. In this series we will examine how the trends in consumer credit outcomes have evolved since June 2020.
The June 2021 post
focuses on trends in delinquencies for auto loans, student loans, mortgages and credit cards. Possibly due to federal, state and local policy interventions providing payment assistance and income support, in the August 2020 report, we found that new delinquencies declined for auto loan, mortgage, student loan, and credit card accounts through June of 2020. Since July 2020, delinquencies for auto loans and credit cards have risen somewhat, but as of March 2021, the rate of new delinquencies on all four types of credit are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Eric J. Ellman is Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) in Washington, DC. He also served for eight months as Interim President and CEO of the Association. More