Consumer revolving credit jumped by $2.5 billion in February after a very sluggish January wherein Americans added $1.3 billion from the prior month. Revolving consumer credit set a new record of nearly $884 billion in February, growing at an annual rate of 3.4%. Based on revised figures, revolving debt rose 1.7% in January and 4.0% in December. According to data released by the Federal Reserve, total revolving credit has expanded by $3.8 billion since the start of the new year. Bank credit card debt (excluding store and gas credit cards) at the end of the fourth quarter was about $750 billion or roughly 85% of total revolving credit, according to CardData ([www.carddata.com][1]). At the end of February, Americans were $2409.7 billion in debt, excluding home mortgages.
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REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL ($billions)
Feb 07 Jan 07 Dec 06 Nov 06 Oct 06 Sep 06
GRWTH: 3.4% 1.7 4.0 14.7 6.4 7.4
$OWED: $883.9 881.4 880.1 877.2 865.6 861.2
Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 4/6/07;
For complete historical data, visit CardData (www.carddata.com)
[1]: http://www.carddata.com