U.S. Consumer Credit Up 2.4% in May, Credit Cards Up 10%

Published on:
12 September 2006 at 10:21 a.m. ET

Written by: Unknown Author –

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00031214-us-consumer-credit-up-24-in-may-credit-ca/

What?s the best way to prepare for the upcoming financial crisis? If you?re an American consumer, it?s probably to take on more debt. Like, say, $4.4 billion more in debt in May, according to a MarketWatch story.

Overall consumer debt jumped up by 2.4% in May to $2.173 trillion. The culprit? Rising credit card debt, due in part to astronomical fuel prices as well as skyrocketing housing costs. Revolving credit — like credit cards ? expanded by a whopping 10% in May. That?s an additional $6.7 billion in outstanding revolving debt to bring the standing total to $812 billion. Non-revolving debt actually fell 2% in May.

The increase in consumer credit was about $1 billion more than economists were expecting. In a survey conducted by MarketWatch, analysts expected a credit expansion of $3.4 billion for May.

U.S. Consumer Credit Up 2.4% in May, Credit Cards Up 10%

Unknown Author

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