Household debt in the U.S. declined 1.1 percent during the fourth quarter, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Consumer indebtedness fell $126 billion from the end of September to $11.53 trillion on Dec. 31, according to a quarterly report on household debt and credit released today by the district bank.

Mortgages and home-equity lines of credit declined a combined $146 billion, and total delinquency rates dropped to 9.8 percent of outstanding debt “in some stage of delinquency,” from 10 percent at the end of September.

“While we continue to see improvements in the delinquent balances and delinquency transition rates this quarter, there has been a noticeable decrease in the rate of improvement compared to 2009-2010,” Andrew Haughwout, vice president and economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement. “Overall it appears that delinquency rates are stabilizing at levels that remain significantly higher than pre-crisis levels.”

About 289,000 consumers showed new foreclosures on their credit reports in the fourth quarter, up 9.5 percent from the third quarter, the survey showed. There were 425,000 new bankruptcies, 14.9 percent less than in the last three months of 2010.

Non-real estate borrowing climbed $20 billion, or 0.8 percent, to $2.635 trillion, according to the report.