Revolving Credit Free Fall

Inside ARM reports (bold mine):

With banks freezing credit lines and the economy tanking, consumer credit in the U.S. declined in December 3.1 percent for the third straight month. It’s the longest slide in consumer since 1991.

The Federal Reserve reported late Friday that overall consumer credit outstanding in the U.S. dropped by $6.6 billion in December, or at an annualized rate of 3.1 percent. The Fed’s consumer credit report, called the G.19, does not include debt backed by real estate.

Most of the decline was in revolving credit, most commonly comprised of credit card debt. Revolving credit fell $6.32 billion, or 7.8 percent annualized (5.3% annualized over the quarter), to a total of $963.55 billion outstanding in December. In November, revolving credit declined 8.5 percent.

Source: Federal Reserve