Asset Quality

Consumer Loans

Consumer loans are credit extended to individuals for personal, household, and family purposes — credit cards, auto loans, and other personal loans. They carry higher yields but also higher and faster-moving loss rates than commercial credit.

Formula

Consumer Loans = Credit Cards + Automobile Loans + Other Loans to Individuals

Schedule RC-C reports consumer credit by type. These loans are typically smaller, more numerous, and unsecured or thinly secured, so their losses react quickly to unemployment and household stress.

Why it matters

Consumer lending diversifies revenue and earns high yields, but card and unsecured losses rise fast in a downturn and lead the credit cycle. A large consumer book — especially credit cards — makes earnings sensitive to the health of the household sector.

How to interpret

Read consumer loans as a share of the book and watch delinquency closely. Consumer credit losses move earlier and more sharply than commercial losses, so a rising consumer share raises both the yield and the cyclicality of the portfolio.

Thresholds

Range	Label	Interpretation
Small / secured	Strong	Limited or well-secured consumer exposure.
Moderate	Adequate	Typical consumer-lending share.
Card/unsecured-heavy	Watch	Higher-yield but faster-loss exposure.
Concentrated consumer	Concern	Earnings highly sensitive to household credit stress.

Worked example

A bank with $1.4 billion of loans and $250 million of consumer credit — half of it credit cards — earns strong yields in good times, but those card balances can see charge-offs spike above 4-5% in a recession, far faster than its commercial book.

Frequently asked

What types of loans count as consumer loans?

Loans to individuals for household and personal use: credit cards and other revolving credit, automobile loans, and other personal installment loans. Residential mortgages are reported separately under real estate.

Why do consumer loans have higher loss rates?

Consumer loans, especially credit cards, are often unsecured and tied to individual income and employment. Losses rise quickly when unemployment climbs, making them more cyclical and front-loaded than most commercial credit.

Direction: Higher is betterUnits: $Call report: Schedule RC-CBrowse banks

Sources

FFIEC Call Report Schedule RC-C (Loans and Lease Financing Receivables)

See Consumer Loans across 4,335 US banks

BankRegReports ranks every FDIC-insured institution by Consumer Loans, refreshed quarterly within 48 hours of FFIEC release.

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