Consumer Credit Smashes Estimates As Credit Card Debt Hits New All-Time High

The relevering of the US consumer continues: one month after the June consumer credit number came higher than estimates (and followed the unexpected May contreaction in US credit), in July consumer credit came in even higher than expected, with the Fed reporting in its latest G.19 report that in July, US consumer credit rose by a whopping $18.1BN - more than the $14.6 billion in June - and far above the $11.7 billion estimate. 

The rebound was driven by a modestly increase in revolving credit (i.e., credit card debt), as consumers added $2.8 billion to their credit card total...

... pushing it to new record high of $1.357 trillion.

The bulk of July's spike in consumer credit was in "non-revolving": student and auto loans rose by a whopping $15.3 billion, the biggest one month increase in over three years, and pushing total nonrevolving credit to $5.186 trillion, also a new all time high.

What is interesting, is that while auto loans have barely budged since late 2023, staying around 1.6 trillion for nearly three years, and hitting a record $1.571 trillion at the end of June, student loans have resumed their ascent, and after a modest decline in late 2023, student loans are once again at all time highs although in June we saw a tiny decline of $4.5 billion.

Finally for those keeping tabs, after a modest decline in the previous two quarter, the average interest rate on credit card accounts assessed interest rose again to 22.15%...

... a level last seen three years ago, when the Fed rates was almost 2% higher, which confirms our long-running observation that credit card rates go up but they never go down.