Consumer revolving credit, mostly credit card debt, continued its downward trend in March and revised figures now show six months of decline. Americans clipped $5.4 billion off total consumer revolving credit in March. Lower credit limits and reduced personal income continue to contribute to the sluggish growth. Revolving credit now stands at $945.9 billion in March and declining at a 6.8% annual rate. In February, revolving credit dipped by a revised $9.7 billion reflecting an annual contraction ratio of 12.1%, according to new data released by the Federal Reserve. Bank credit card debt (excluding store and gas credit cards) at the end of the first quarter was about $805 billion or roughly 85% of total revolving credit, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). Store and gas credit cards had about $100 billion in outstandings at year-end 2008. At the end of March, Americans were $2551 billion in debt, excluding home mortgages.
REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL ($billions)
Mar 09 Feb 09 Jan 09 Dec 08 Nov 08 Oct 08
GRWTH: -6.8% -12.1 -0.7 -8.2 -7.1 -0.1
$OWED: $945.9 951.3 961.0 961.6 968.1 976.8
Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 5/7/09;
For complete historical data, visit CardData (<a href="http://www.carddata.com">www.carddata.com</a>)
