Consumer Credit Up 3.2% in January; Credit Card Spending Slows

Coinciding with the Senate’s increased scrutiny of the credit card industry comes the monthly release from the Federal Reserve telling us all how much money people spent that they didn’t have.  This month, the Fed says consumer credit card debt is slowing, and it has been steadily slowing down for a couple of months. 

In January, credit card spending increased only 1.1%.  This is after another anemic increase of 1.9% in December.  In fact, the 1.1% reading was the slowest growth in credit card spending in 10 months.  Of course, these numbers are coming off of November’s 14.7% increase, so folks are still using the plastic…they’re just doing it like a frat boy drinks: binge-ily.

Overall consumer debt increased $6.4 billion, or 3.2% annualized in January on a jump in non-revolving credit, specifically auto loans.

Revolving credit (credit cards) increased $816 million, or 1.1%, in January.

Non-revolving credit increased $5.63 billion, or 4.2% annualized.

Also, credit growth in December was revised down from $6.0 billion to $5 billion, punctuating the slowing of credit growth.

For all of 2006, consumer credit expanded by 4.8%.  Total outstanding debt reached $2.41 trillion in January.