Consumer Credit Quality Deteriorates Across Most Credit Categories, VantageScore Reports

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Credit delinquencies rose on a year-over-year basis across nearly all credit tiers and almost all delinquency categories, according to VantageScore, San Francisco.

This trend indicates that repayment pressures are affecting even the most creditworthy consumers, VantageScore’s CreditGauge report for August said. For example, auto loan delinquencies increased across all stages, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The report did not examine mortgage credit.

“The broad-based decline in consumer credit quality indicates that economic pressures are no longer concentrated among some VantageScore credit tiers and income levels,” said Susan Fahy, EVP and Chief Digital Officer at VantageScore. “For example, the increase in auto loan and personal loan credit delinquencies likely reflects, in part, the compounding effects of sustained inflation, consistently elevated interest rates, higher borrowing costs and an unsteady employment picture.”

“Superprime” Borrowers Affected: The most significant credit delinquency increase occurred among VantageScore Superprime borrowers (781–850) in the 90–119 Days Past Due category, with a more than 300% spike in delinquency levels. “While absolute Superprime credit delinquency levels remain extremely low, this sharp uptick indicates weakened repayment behavior even among the most creditworthy consumers,” the report said.

Unsecured Credit Originations Grow as Consumers Seek Liquidity Through Refinancing: Unsecured loan originations rose across key products on a month-over-month basis, led by personal loans (+0.45%) and credit cards (+0.39%). “Unsecured credit originations rose faster than secured ones, reflecting increased demand for liquidity, as consumers refinance debt with unsecured loans,” VantageScore said.

Rising Credit Card Balances Indicate Consumer Credit Stress: The average credit card balance rose to $6,500 in August, up $96 year-over-year and up $67 from July 2025, VantageScore said. The utilization rate also increased to 30.77%, suggesting increased consumer reliance on revolving credit amid persistent cost-of-living pressures.

The average VantageScore 4.0 credit score remained stable at 701 in August.