Credit card balance grew 13% y-o-y, the largest jump since 2002|Håkan Dahlström|CC BY 2.0

With soaring inflation pushing up housing and auto balances, the collective US household debt for the first time topped $16 trillion in the second quarter, the New York Federal Reserve said Tuesday.

American households owed a total of $16.15 trillion as of June end, a 2% increase from the first quarter. The New York Fed said the debt gains were largely due to mortgages and vehicle purchases.

“Americans are borrowing more, but a big part of the increased borrowing is attributable to higher prices,” the NY Fed said in a blog post.

Rising prices
The rise in borrowing came as inflation ran at an annual rate of 8.6% in the second quarter, including a record 9.1% jump in June—the biggest in 41 years.

Mortgage balances rose 1.9% for the quarter to about $11.4 trillion, while credit card balances grew 13% over the past year to $46 billion in the three-month period—the largest jump since 2002.