Consumer revolving credit growth continues to slow due to the apparent siphoning-off of credit card debt to home mortgage and equity loans. During May, Americans added $3.1 billion in revolving credit, mostly credit cards, compared to $3.3 billion one year ago. According to preliminary figures released this week by the Federal Reserve, revolving consumer credit stood at $725.0 billion, at the end of May, compared to $708.7 billion one year ago. Bank credit card debt (excluding store and gas credit cards) at the end of the first quarter was $645.6 billion, or roughly 89% of total revolving credit, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). This compares to $660.9 billion at the end of 2002. According to the latest government figures, American consumers were $1.760 trillion in debt, exclusive of home mortgages during May.
REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORICAL ($billions)
May 03 Apr 03 Mar 03 Feb 03 Jan 03 Dec 02 Nov 02
GRWTH: 5.3% 2.0 4.1 5.9 5.2 -6.7 -1.4
$OWED: $725.0 721.9b 720.7 718.6 715.5 712.4 716.8
Oct 02 Sep 02 Aug 02 Jul 02 Jun 02 May 02 Apr 02
GRWTH: 1.6% 3.0% 6.2 6.0 4.1 8.0 4.8
$OWED: $717.9 721.3b 719.5 715.6 712.1 708.7 705.4
Source: Federal Reserve; revised figures as of 07/08/03;
For complete historical data visit CardData (www.carddata.com).
