The average debt held by consumers who are behind in their debt repayments rose 17 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to data released today by FICO, a leading predictive analytics and decision management software company. The mean total debt for consumers who were 60+ days delinquent on at least one account grew from $53,706 (adjusted for  inflation) in October 2007 to $62,642 in October 2012, fueled largely by student loan debt and mortgage debt.

The biggest rise occurred in student loan debt, which jumped 89 percent over the five-year period for delinquent consumers. By contrast, the mean student loan debt rose 58 percent for consumers who were not 60+ days delinquent on any accounts. For delinquent consumers, the amount owed on student loans in October 2012 was also 66 percent higher than for non-delinquent consumers.

The mean mortgage loan debt was 14 percent higher in 2012 for delinquent consumers, whereas it fell by 22 percent for non-delinquent consumers. An even greater discrepancy occurs for all other credit (not including student loans, credit cards, mortgages or auto loans): the average debt rose 61 percent among delinquent consumers, whereas it fell by 28 percent among non-delinquent consumers.

"This is a tale of two Americas," said Andrew Jennings, chief analytics officer at FICO and head of FICO Labs. "Most Americans have deleveraged, bringing their total debt down, but debt loads have risen for the one in five Americans who have problems making payments. Ultimately it is up to the lenders and debt collectors to tailor their approaches to different consumers in order to increase their yield, and help customers get back on track."

FICO Labs reviewed 10 million depersonalized U.S. consumer credit bureau records for this analysis. About 19 percent of the population were 60+ days delinquent in each sample.