Consumer Credit Drops by $7.5 Billion in February

The most recent Federal Reserve G.19 Release reveals that consumer credit dropped by 9.7% in February. That decrease amounts to $7.5 billion. It's much more than the $1 billion that analysts were expecting, according to the Wall Street Journal. The bulk of the decrease comes from revolving credit, which fell by $7.8 billion. Nonrevolving credit, like mortgage and auto loans, increased slightly from January to February.

This means that not only are consumers using their credit cards less, they're also paying off their existing credit card debt. The decline in consumer debt may be due in part to interest rate hikes and credit limit cuts that have been implemented by credit card companies in recent months. Perhaps carrying credit card debt has become so unattractive that consumers have decided to get rid of it.

Each month the Federal Reserve publishes the G.19 Statistical Release on consumer credit. The report is always two months behind. For example, April's report covers February debt statistics. See past G.19 Releases. The G.19 Release is just one of many statistical reports released by the Federal Reserve.