Car and student loan balances reached $3,844.4 billion in August, the Federal Reserve reported on October 7. That is the nonrevolving part of consumer credit, seasonally adjusted and preliminary. It grew at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the month while credit card balances shrank.
The two moves went in opposite directions. Revolving credit, which is mostly credit cards, fell at an annual rate of 4.2 percent to $1,352.4 billion. Nonrevolving credit rose, and it makes up roughly three-quarters of the $5,196.8 billion in total consumer credit.
Anyone paying off a car note or a student loan is inside that $3.8 trillion. So is anyone who co-signed one for a child or grandchild. These are loans with a set payment schedule, repaid in installments until the balance is gone.
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What counts as nonrevolving
The Fed’s G.19 consumer credit release defines nonrevolving credit as closed-end credit repaid on a prearranged schedule. Borrowing more means signing a new contract. A credit card works the other way, because the borrower can keep drawing against the same line.
Motor vehicle and education loans make up most of the category, the Fed says. Boat, recreational vehicle and personal loans are in it too. Mortgages are not, because the release covers consumer credit “excluding loans secured by real estate.”
How fast the balance grew in August
In dollars, nonrevolving credit grew at an annualized $156.8 billion pace in August. Revolving credit moved the other way, at an annualized minus $57.4 billion. The net was a $99.4 billion annual pace for all consumer credit, or 1.9 percent growth.
Total consumer credit stood at $5,196.8 billion at the end of August, up from $5,188.5 billion in July. Those are seasonally adjusted figures. On an unadjusted basis the total was $5,162.9 billion.
July was revised in the same release. Total growth for that month is now 4.1 percent, with revolving credit at 2.5 percent and nonrevolving at 4.7 percent. The August numbers are preliminary, which means they can change when the next report comes out.
Where the car and student loan totals stand
The monthly release does not split nonrevolving credit between cars and students. A separate quarterly table does, and it runs through the second quarter of 2026. It shows $1,861.8 billion in student loans and $1,574.6 billion in motor vehicle loans. Together that is about $3.44 trillion.
Those quarterly figures are a different series from the August total, so they should not be added to it. They do show the scale. Student loans are the larger of the two pieces, ahead of the balances on cars.
The federal student loan figure comes from the Department of Education’s data on its Direct Loan, Perkins and federal family education loan programs, the Fed’s notes say. Private student loans come from the firm Enterval Analytics. The total includes accrued interest and defaulted federal loans, so it counts more than the unpaid principal.
Car loan numbers are built from lenders’ own reports, according to the Fed’s notes. Banks and thrifts supply regulatory Call Reports, and credit unions report through National Credit Union Administration filings and America’s Credit Unions data. Finance companies are estimated from a benchmark survey and a monthly sample.
What the pace shows
A 4.1 percent annual growth rate means these balances are still rising, even as card balances shrank. The release does not say whether the increase came from car loans, student loans or other installment debt. The Fed’s monthly figures for the car and student pieces are not available for July or August.
Another measure of the same debts, from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, puts the totals differently. Its household debt report for the second quarter, published August 11, counted $1.713 trillion in auto loans, up $28 billion in the quarter. It counted $1.651 trillion in student loans, down $7 billion. The two reports draw on different data, which is why the student loan totals do not match.
Late payments on car and student loans
The New York Fed’s August 11 report tracks how many borrowers fall 90 or more days behind. For auto loans, the flow into serious delinquency rose from 2.93 percent in the second quarter of 2025 to 3.00 percent in the second quarter of 2026. For student loans it fell from 12.88 percent to 7.83 percent, though the bank says re-reporting of defaulted student debt is distorting those figures.
Joelle Scally, an economic policy advisor at the New York Fed, said delinquency rates across most products “have held steady over the past two years.” She added that “new delinquencies for auto loans and credit cards remain at elevated levels.” A growing car loan balance and a late-payment rate that has stopped improving are the two numbers lenders and collectors watch.
The Federal Reserve also says its Data Download Program’s “Build Your Package” feature will be removed during the week of November 9, ahead of the program’s eventual retirement. The release points users to FRED, the St. Louis Fed’s database, for the same series.
Who is holding the car or student loan in your name?
The balance is a national total, but the debt is personal, and so is the call from a collector.
A car loan or student loan that falls behind can end up in front of a collector. The first letter and the first call are when a borrower’s written requests do the most.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit sets out the debt-validation steps that make a collector prove a debt. It also includes a debt inventory, call log and deadline tracker, so every balance, caller and date is in one place.
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
