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A pedestrian carries a shopping bag as she walks along Fillmore Street this summer in San Francisco. U.S. revolving debt, mainly credit cards, rose at a 4.9% annual rate in September, the first gain after six straight monthly declines.
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The numbers: Credit-card debt in the U.S. rose in September for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck six months ago, according to Federal Reserve data released Friday.
Overall consumer credit rose $16.2 billion in September or at a 4.7% annual rate. Economists surveyed by Econoday had expected an increase of $7.2 billion.
For the third quarter, consumer credit increased at a 2.3% annual rate after a 5.6% drop in the second quarter.
What happened: Revolving debt, mainly credit cards, rose at a 4.9% annual rate in September, the first gain after six straight monthly declines. For the third quarter, revolving debt fell at a 2.6% rate after a 30.8% plunge in the second quarter.
Non-revolving credit, which is mainly student loans, rose at a 4.7% annual rate after a 1.1% gain in August. This sector tends to be less volatile. Non-revolving debt rose at a 3.9% rate in the third quarter, up from a 3.2% rate in the prior three months.
Big picture: Consumers have been reluctant to use credit cards in this recession. Government stimulus programs passed in the spring have helped by boosting income, economists said. The impact of the stimulus programs is now fading.
Separately, the American Bankers Association reported Thursday that the share of U.S. credit-card holders that paid their balance in full from April to June rose 0.6 percentage points to 32.2%, an all-time record. In addition, the number of credit-card accounts fell on a year-over-year basis for the first time since 2012.
Market reaction: Stocks were lower on Friday after four straight days of gains. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.02% index was down 0.2% in late afternoon trading.
