Consumer Credit Up for the First Time in a Year

The Federal Reserve reported that consumer credit (seasonally adjusted) in January 2010 grew for the first time in a year as non-revolving credit posted a solid increase. However, revolving credit continued to decrease.

Consumer credit grew at an annualized pace of 2.4 percent in January to $2.4563 trillion, up from a revised $2.4513 trillion in December 2009.

Revolving credit in January fell at an annual rate of 2.5 percent to $864.4 billion – although the pace of contraction slowed. Revolving credit has now fallen for 16 consecutive months and is 11.4 percent below its peak of $975.2 billion as of September 2008.

On the other hand, non-revolving credit in January grew at an annualized rate of 5 percent in January 2010, after posting annual growth rate of 3.7 percent in December 2009. As of January 2010, non-revolving credit was almost $1.6 trillion.

10.03.01 (Source: Federal Reserve)