In another sign that consumers have pulled back on spending and debt accumulation, revolving credit grew a mere 2.1% during August. American consumers added only $1.2 billion to new revolving debt during the month versus $5.9 billion last August. According to preliminary figures released last week by the Federal Reserve, revolving debt stood at $702.6 billion during August. Non-revolving debt edged up slightly to $888.3 billion. At the end of August, American consumers were $1.591 trillion in debt, exclusive of home mortgages. Revolving debt is most credit card debt. At mid-year consumers owed $567.2 billion on 555.9 million VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express cards, according to CardData (http://www.carddata.com).
REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL
($billions)
Aug01 Jul01 Jun01 May01 Apr01 Mar01 Feb01
%GRWTH: 2.1% 1.9 2.1 4.5 14.2 11.9 20.8
$OWED: $702.6 701.4 700.3 699.0 697.6 688.2 681.4
Jan01 Dec00 Nov00 Oct00 Sep00 Aug00 Jul00
%GRWTH: 11.6% 5.0 10.9 4.7 7.8 12.6 6.7
$OWED: $670.3 663.4 660.6 654.8 649.3 645.1 638.2
Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 10/5/01;
For complete historical data visit http://www.carddata.com.
