CBA Releases Chart Book for Q1 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) today released its Chart Book for the first quarter of 2025, showing broader alignment in how consumers say they feel and how they act in the economy. This is the second iteration of the CBA Chart Book, a quarterly snapshot of aggregate data and resources related to the retail banking industry.
Key Findings
Overall: We are starting to see alignment between how consumers feel about the economy and how they spend and borrow.
- Consumer sentiment, spending, and loan demand are declining, driven largely by heightened economic uncertainty.
- Demand for new small business loans has slowed significantly.
These trends may be impacted by ongoing developments on trade and economic policy. That said, performance on consumer debt, excluding student loans, continues to improve as balances have declined and new delinquencies moderate.
Consumers: Total consumer debt balances continued to increase, though balances on credit card and auto loans dropped slightly. New delinquencies on credit card and auto loans continued to decrease.
- The resumption of federal student loan repayment and credit reporting created large increases in delinquencies leading to drops in credit scores, especially among higher-scored consumers.
Consumers are starting to tap the equity in their home for liquidity as deposit balances come back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Small Business: Small businesses continue to stay on the sidelines in terms of taking on new debt financing.
- Demand for new term loans, lines of credit, and even SBA 7(a) loans are down significantly.
Banks continue to tighten credit standards and economic uncertainty continues, making future expansion and capital decision-making difficult.
About the CBA Chart Book
As the lead voice on consumer finance issues, the CBA Chart Book is produced quarterly to equip retail banking industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping the future of the industry. To view the latest edition of the CBA Chart Book, click HERE.
