Revolving consumer credit, mostly credit card debt, edged up modestly by $900 million during December at an annual growth rate of 1.4%. The slower growth during the holiday season is due to larger monthly payments. Last year, more consumers paid-off balances each month, driving up the average monthly payment rate to more than 18% of outstanding balances. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans owed $790.5 billion in revolving credit at the end of December, compared to $789.6 billion for November. One-year ago revolving credit stood at approximately $759 billion. Bank credit card debt (excluding store and gas credit cards) at the end of the year was $687 billion, or roughly 87% of total revolving credit, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). At the end of December, Americans were $2103.7 billion in debt, excluding home mortgages.
| REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL ($billions) |
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| Dec 04 | Nov 04 | Oct 04 | Sep 04 | Jun 04 | Mar 04 | Dec 03 |
| GRWTH: | 1.4% | 0.8 | 6.0 | -1.9 | 10.4 | -1.9 | 5.4 |
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| $OWED: | $790.5 | 789.6 | 789.0 | 785.1 | 765.2 | 768.9 | 758.7 |
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| Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 2/07/05; |
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| For complete historical data visit CardData (www.carddata.com) |
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