Charging Up a Mountain of Debt: Accountng for the Growth of Credit Card Debt

4 Antoniewicz compared estimates of total household liabilities from the 1989 and 1992 surveys to estimates from the flow of funds accounts (FFA). For 1989, SCF total household liabilities equal $3.1 trillion, whereas the FFA estimate is about $29 billion less, and for 1992, the SCF estimate is $3.6 trillion, while FFA is about $116 billion higher. Estimates of consumer credit from the SCF are $821 billion and $664 billion for 1989 and 1992, while FFA’s estimates are $807 billion and $828 billion.