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More evidence the economy is slowly but surely recovering: credit card debt expanded by $6.5 billion in July. One year ago, as the recession was taking hold, consumers loped off $2.2 billion from revolving credit during July. The sharp increase in July was the second highest monthly jump since November of last year. During July, consumers revolving credit was growing at an annual rate of 10.8%. Since the first of this year consumer revolving credit has grown by $29.7 billion. Bank credit card debt at mid-year was $611.4 billion according to CardData (www.carddata.com). Bank credit card outstandings at mid-year were growing at an annual rate of 7.8% while overall revolving credit was growing at an annual rate of 3.4%. According to figures released Monday afternoon by the Federal Reserve, American consumers were $1.724 trillion in debt, exclusive of home mortgages.
REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL
($billions)
Jul02 Jun 02 May 02 Apr 02 Mar 02 Feb 02 Jan 02
GRWTH: 10.8% 6.5 4.1 8.0 4.8 2.2 1.8
$OWED: $722.1 715.6 712.1 708.7 705.4 705.0 702.4
Dec 01 Nov 01 Oct 01 Sep 01 Aug 01 Jul 01 Jun 01
GRWTH: -9.7% 12.7% -7.1 0.6 -2.2 -3.7 2.1
$OWED: $692.4 698.0 686.4 692.7 693.5b 698.1 700.3
Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 09/08/02; For complete historical data visit CardData (www.carddata.com).
