Credit Card Spending Explodes in November

U.S. consumers in November charged everything in sight, sending credit card spending numbers up more than 11 percent in the month, according to data released late Tuesday by the Federal Reserve.

Cardholders added $8.8 billion to revolving credit balances in November, an increase of 11.3 percent annualized. This is after an 8.5 percent annualized increase in October and 6 percent in September. It was the largest increase since April 2007. Total credit card debt outstanding in the U.S. is now $937.5 billion.

And it wasn’t just credit cards. Non-revolving debt, like auto and student loans, moved up at an annual rate of 5.1 percent, or $6.2 billion. Non-revolving debt decreased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in October.

Overall, total consumer credit in the U.S. expanded at an annual rate of 7.4 percent in November, or $15.4 billion, to stand at $2.505 trillion. The past two months had seen annualized increases of 1 percent and 2.6 percent.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg and Reuters were predicting an $8 billion increase in consumer credit for the month.

The Fed’s consumer credit report, referred to by economists as G.19, backs up a Commerce Department report in late December showing an up-tick in overall consumer spending in November. Commerce reported that consumer spending had increased by 1.1 percent in November, up from a 0.4 percent increase in October.