Revolving consumer credit soared to $812.5 billion in May, a new record and the largest one-month gain since October 2004. On an annual basis, revolving consumer credit, mostly credit card debt, is growing at a surprising 9.9% clip. According to data released yesterday by the Federal Reserve, total revolving credit grew $6.6 billion during May, compared to a revised $806.9 billion for April. The revised annual rate of growth for April was 2.9%. Bank credit card debt (excluding store and gas credit cards) at the end of the first quarter was $704.1 billion or roughly 88% of total revolving credit, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). At the end of May, Americans were $2173.5 billion in debt, excluding home mortgages.
| REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL ($billions) |
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| May 06 | Apr 06 | Mar 06 | Feb 06 | Jan 06 | Dec 05 |
| GRWTH: | 9.9% | 2.9 | -2.3 | -1.3 | 1.9 | 0.3 |
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| $OWED: | $812.5 | 806.9 | 803.9 | 805.4 | 805.9 | 805.5 |
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| Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 7/10/06; |
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| For complete historical data, visit CardData (www.carddata.com) |
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