Credit Card Debt Falls in January

U.S. consumers eased up on credit card spending in January breaking a streak of four straight months of total outstanding credit card debt growth.

The Federal Reserve released data late Wednesday that showed a 4.4 percent annualized decrease (a 0.37 percent decrease from December 2011), or by $2.9 billion. Total consumer credit card debt outstanding was $800.8 billion at the end of January 2012.

Credit card debt had been on a bit of a tear, increasing 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, the longest sustained period of growth since 2008. From October 2008 to September 2011, consumer credit card balances shrunk by more than $180 billion, fueled by a meteoric rise in bank charge-offs and extremely slow growth in credit card lending.

But other types of credit expanded at a record rate in January. Nonrevolving debt, which includes auto and student loans, rose $20.7 billion during the month. It was the largest dollar increase since November 2001.

Total consumer credit outstanding, not including debt backed by real estate, was $2.512 trillion in January.