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In 2011, U.S. consumers were much more diligent in paying against their debts, resulting in significant declines in delinquency rates among the majority of tracked lending sectors, according to Equifax's December National Credit Trends Report.

The data also reflects a cumulative decline in total consumer debt, which now stands at $11.1 trillion. This represents a nearly 11 percent decline in debt from its peak of $12.4 trillion in October 2008.
Equifax's national analysis is sourced from data on more than 585 million consumers and 81 million businesses worldwide. Conducted on a monthly basis, the research provides detailed levels of consumer credit information from various vertical markets including, mortgage, automotive, student loans and bank and retail credit cards.

Most tracked lending sectors reported double digit declines in delinquency rates for 2011. Key findings from the report include:

Bank Credit Cards
The greatest improvement year-over-year (versus 2010 levels) was within the bank credit card lending sector, where 60+ days past due delinquencies declined by 29 percent. As delinquency rates continue to improve, bank credit card issuers have loosened lending standards and from January-October 2011, there was a 48 percent increase in new bank credit cards issued to subprime borrowers (those with Equifax credit scores below 660). In October 2011 (headed into the holiday retail season), monthly subprime bank credit card originations were up 22 percent over October 2010 levels.

Automobiles
Sixty-plus days past due rates declined by 19 percent in the auto finance category and in the auto bank category, 60+ days past due rates declined by 23 percent in 2011. Auto loan-amount totals were also on the rise with more than $30 billion in new auto loans originated in October 2011. That total is almost equally split between auto finance ($15.9 billion) and auto bank ($15.7 billion).

Mortgage
2011 first mortgage 30+ days past due rates declined by 13 percent and home equity installment 30+ days past due rates declined by 10 percent. While not quite as large a decline, the home equity revolving 30+ past due category demonstrated improvement as well, with a 7 percent reduction in 2011. While home equity delinquency rates were better for the year, home equity origination rates continue to be down, with declines recorded for both the number of home equity loans originated and average loan amount, extending a 5-year slide.

Retail Credit Card
In the retail credit card category, the (60+ days past due rates were down 15 percent) for 2011 and on the origination side, a 4-year declining trend was reversed as the number of new retail credit cards originated between January-October 2011 (26.8 million cards total) increased by 7 percent.

Student Loan
The exception among 2011 lending sectors was in the area of student loans that are 60+ days past due, which did not decline, but actually increased by 1 percent over 2010 delinquency levels. However, through October 2011, the industry is experiencing 3 consecutive years of increases in the number of student loans originated.