Thus, one would anticipate that households having access to mortgage or home equity debt would choose to use it rather than the more costly alternatives of credit card and
installment debt.
12 Hendricks and others (1973) report that the ratio of
installment debt to income decreases sharply between the 30-34 age group and the 35-40 age group.
A self-canceling
installment debt stock succession (SCIDSS) is a debt obligation created on the transfer of stock from the transferor-creditor to a successor-debtor.
These forms can be exemplified by
installment debt and credit card debt.
Those holding
installment debt such as auto loans increased from 52 percent to 51 percent in this income group, while the proportion in the overall population with this type of debt was unchanged.
In an effort to put debt levels into better perspective, analysts like to look at the "debt ratio" - the relationship of
installment debt outstanding to income.
Put another way, this paper deals with the relationship between consumer
installment debt and the consumption of nondurable goods and services, in this case food.
Credit cards today account for a substantial and growing share of consumer
installment debt (chart 2).
About 60% of the nation's close to 100 million households are carrying some form of
installment debt (excluding home mortgage payments).
However, consumer
installment debt relative to disposable personal income is now at record highs, exceeding 20%, a level that traditionally has signaled a downturn.
A 1 percent decline in total consumer
installment debt last year, to $729 billion, may be the start of a sustained downtrend.
Change in the ratio of revolving
installment debt to disposable income (after-tax)
