According to the release, the federal government only holds non-revolving credit. It does not hold revolving credit. The federal government has grown to become the largest holder of non-revolving credit. This was not always the case. In 1990, the federal government held a very small portion of non-revolving credit. Over the years, the decline in the share of non-revolving credit held by depository institutions coincided with an increase in the portion held by finance companies and that was securitized while the share of non-revolving credit held by the federal government remained small. However, in recent years, the percentage of non-revolving credit held by the federal government has soared at the expense of the share of the market held by depository institutions and finance companies.
According to the Federal Reserve Board, non-revolving credit held by the federal government includes student loans originated by the Department of Education under the Federal Direct Loan Program and the Perkins Loan Program, as well as Federal Family Education Program loans that the government purchased under the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) that was passed in May 2008. The ECASLA provided the Department of Education with the authority to purchase student loans. The beginning of the steep increase in the share of non-revolving credit held by the federal government that began in 2009 coincided with the passage of the ECASLA and indicates that, in addition to making student loans directly, the federal government purchased student loans in an effort to facilitate market access at a time when private capital on its own grew scarce.
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