Direct Answer
Banking and credit indicators track how much banks lend, how willing they are to lend, and how well borrowers are repaying. Most investors start with the Federal Reserve's lending standards survey, bank loan growth, and delinquency and charge-off rates. Standards and demand are survey-based and tend to move early, while delinquencies and charge-offs are outcomes that tend to lag.
Banking and Credit Indicators: Investor Reference
This category covers economic indicators in the Banking and Credit Indicators area. Each linked indicator page explains the measure's definition, calculation methodology, release schedule and market interpretation in depth.
See the full economic indicators hub for all 15 categories, or the Macro & Market Regimes section for broader context on how these indicators influence market regimes and portfolio positioning.
What do Banking and Credit Indicators have in common?
The Federal Reserve's weekly commercial bank data supply the balance-sheet series: bank credit, loans and leases, securities holdings and deposits, plus loan categories for commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate, consumer loans and residential real estate. These measure the stock of lending and funding in U.S. commercial banks, and splitting them shows which sector is borrowing and whether banks are lending or holding securities.
The Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, run quarterly by the Federal Reserve, supplies the willingness side: C&I lending standards and loan demand, CRE lending standards and household lending standards. Each is a net percentage of banks reporting a change, so it signals direction and breadth rather than loan volume. These surveys ask about the prior three months, so they describe conditions that already took hold.
Credit performance series show repayment outcomes. The Federal Reserve publishes bank credit card and mortgage delinquencies and the bank charge-off rate, and the New York Fed publishes auto and student loan delinquencies. Commercial paper outstanding and the commercial paper rate show short-term corporate funding outside bank loans. Read in sequence, standards and demand tend to shift first, loan growth follows, and delinquencies and charge-offs arrive later.
How do you choose among Banking and Credit Indicators?
- Willingness to lend: lending standards and loan demand from the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey tend to move before loan balances, so they suit questions about credit supply.
- Actual credit flow: bank credit, loans and leases and deposits show what banks actually did. Growth rates are more informative than levels, which rise with the economy over time.
- Household stress: credit card, mortgage, auto and student loan delinquencies cover different borrowers. The first two cover bank-held loans, while the New York Fed series cover balances reported to credit bureaus.
- Loss realization: the charge-off rate follows delinquencies, because loans are written off only after they have been delinquent for some time, so it confirms stress more than it anticipates it.
- Sector view: C&I, commercial real estate, consumer and residential loan series, with matching standards where available, show which part of the economy is seeing tighter or looser credit.
- Nonbank funding: commercial paper outstanding and the commercial paper rate show whether large firms can fund in the money market instead of at banks.
Banking and Credit Indicators at a glance
| Indicator | What it measures | Published by | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Loan Delinquencies | the share of U.S. auto loan balances that are delinquent | Federal Reserve Bank of New York | Quarterly |
| Bank Charge-Off Rate | the share of U.S. commercial bank loans written off as losses, net of recoveries | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| Bank Credit | the loans, leases and securities held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Bank Deposits | the deposits held at U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Bank Loans and Leases | the loans and leases held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Bank Securities Holdings | the securities held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| C&I Lending Standards | the net share of U.S. banks tightening standards on commercial and industrial loans | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| C&I Loan Demand | bank loan officers' reports of business loan demand | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| C&I Loans | commercial and industrial loans at U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Commercial Paper Outstanding | the value of commercial paper outstanding in U.S. markets | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Commercial Paper Rate | the interest rate on 90-day AA nonfinancial commercial paper | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Daily |
| Consumer Bank Loans | consumer loans held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| CRE Lending Standards | the net share of banks tightening commercial real estate lending standards | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| CRE Loans | commercial real estate loans held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Credit Card Delinquencies | the share of U.S. commercial bank credit card loans that are delinquent | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| Household Lending Standards | how U.S. banks have changed their standards for lending to households | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| Mortgage Delinquencies | the share of bank-held single-family mortgages that are delinquent | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Quarterly |
| Residential Real Estate Loans | residential real estate loans held by U.S. commercial banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Weekly |
| Student Loan Delinquencies | the share of U.S. student loan balances that are delinquent | Federal Reserve Bank of New York | Quarterly |
19 indicator pages are listed. Each row comes from the same source file as the page it links, so the publisher and frequency here match that page.
What limits do Banking and Credit Indicators share?
Weekly bank data are estimated from a sample and later benchmarked to more complete reports, and mergers, reclassifications and other structural changes can create breaks in levels. Survey-based standards reflect loan officers' opinions from a limited panel of banks, are published quarterly and cover the prior three months. Delinquency and charge-off series lag the cycle, and the bank series omit loans held by nonbank lenders. Most series are seasonally adjusted and revised.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey?
It is a quarterly Federal Reserve survey of senior loan officers at large domestic banks and U.S. branches of foreign banks. It asks whether lending standards and loan demand have changed over the prior three months, by loan type. Results are reported as net percentages, such as the share tightening minus the share easing, with zero as the dividing line.
Do delinquency rates lead or lag the economy?
They mostly lag. Borrowers usually fall behind after job loss, higher payments or weaker income has already occurred, and charge-offs follow delinquencies later still. They are useful for judging credit quality and loss pressure at lenders, while lending standards and loan demand give earlier signals.
What is the difference between bank credit and bank loans and leases?
Bank credit is the broader total: loans and leases plus the securities banks hold. Bank loans and leases cover only lending to borrowers, and bank securities holdings cover the investment portfolio. Splitting them shows whether balance-sheet growth comes from lending to the economy or from holding securities.
Why do lending standards matter for markets?
Tighter standards mean less credit for businesses and households, which can slow investment and spending, and they often appear alongside wider credit spreads. Easier standards do the opposite. Standards describe the supply of credit, so they are most informative when read with demand and loan growth, since weak borrowing can come from either side.
Why are commercial paper series in this hub?
Commercial paper is short-term unsecured borrowing by large firms and financial institutions, outside the bank loan channel. The amount outstanding and the 90-day AA nonfinancial rate show whether firms can fund themselves in the money market, and they are often compared with bank lending when credit conditions change.