Credit Card Debt Falls in April

Total consumer credit card debt outstanding fell in April as overall consumer credit rose, according to data released by the Federal Reserve late Thursday. The data also included significant revisions in the historical figures for consumer credit.

The Fed said in its monthly consumer credit (G.19) report that credit card balances outstanding fell at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent in the month, or by $3.4 billion. The drop in April followed a sharp increase in March, which was revised by the Fed to show a 5.1 percent gain.

Non-revolving debt, mostly comprised of student and auto loans, increased in April at a 7.1 percent annual rate. This pushed overall consumer credit for the month up at a 3.1 percent annual rate.

The Fed also noted significant changes to its current and historical consumer credit figures. The revisions reflect improvement in methodology and a review of the source data, according to the Fed.

The result added more than $50 billion to monthly credit card balances outstanding. For example, the total credit card debt outstanding in March was originally reported as $803.6 billion. With the revisions, the March total is now $865.7 billion. April’s figure was $862.3 billion.

The revisions pushed the peak credit card debt outstanding figure up over $1 trillion. In July 2008, consumer credit balances hit $1,028 billion, the highest total recorded. As previously reported, credit card debt had peaked at around $972 billion in 2008.

Related Content:

• Settlements in Full: What Every Debt Collection Agency and Credit Issuer Needs to Know to Recover the Most Debt
• Collection Agency Financial Benchmark Report 2011
• The Debt Collection Compliance Handbook
• Debt Settlement Survey: How Creditors and Collectors Increase Collections