Consumer Credit Rose Again, But Not Where We Thought

On a seasonal adjustment, credit rose 3%, according to the Federal Reserve.  It increased $6.25 billion to$2.43 trillion.  If you straight-line the data on “per person” based upon close to 310 million Americans that comes to more than $7,838.70 figure of personal credit per American.  That is per belly button rather than per worker.

While we were expecting a gain (and we expect one for May as well), Dow Jones was looking for a gain of about $5.5 billion after a $4.8 billion gain in March.

There was just one problem with our expectations even if the overall number was basically correct.  Credit card debt actually fell by about $943.5 million.  Car loans and personal loans and student loans, which are considered non-revolving credit, created the gain with a boost of more than $7 billion.  We expected a raise in both revolving credit and in non-revolving credit.

Sometimes the math comes out to the same result but by different calculations.

JON C. OGG