U.S. Student-Loan Delinquencies Hit Record

Delinquent U.S. student loans reached a record $166 billion in the fourth quarter. But since “delinquency rates for student loans are likely to understate effective delinquency rates” by about half, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the figure is probably a far cry from reality. Factoring for understatement would imply that about $333 billion in student debt has not been serviced in at least three months. Putting this into perspective, $441 billion had been disbursed under Treasury’s entire Troubled Asset Relief Program to provide financial stability during the recession.