ARLINGTON, Va.—Total consumer credit grew 5.7% in April at a seasonally-adjusted, annualized rate and is up 6.8% compared to a year ago, according to new data from the Federal Reserve.
The new data show that revolving credit – primarily credit cards – rose 13.1%, while non-revolving credit – primarily auto and education loans – rose 3.2% on the month and is up 4.8% from a year ago.
“Consumer credit accelerated in April, reaching its fastest pace since November of last year,” said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long. “March's revolving debt was revised down to a still strong 14.6% annualized growth rate, and while growth may have slowed to a 13.1% increase in April, it was not at all suggestive of a deceleration in spending some economists feared following recent bank collapses.”
Total consumer credit for credit unions grew 0.7% in April. Banks experienced a 1% growth and finance companies saw a gain of 0.2%. From a year prior, total consumer credit at credit unions rose 16.5%, while banks experienced an 8.9% gain and financial companies grew 0.8%, the Fed data indicate.
Over the past 12 months, credit unions’ share of the market rose 1.1% to 13.5%. Banks’ share rose by 0.7% and finance companies’ share fell by 0.7%.
The Main Driver
“The main driver of the overall increase was the non-revolving sector,” said Long. “Not coincidentally April auto sales figures were very strong. The personal savings rate slid in April, retracing most of its gains since January. However, with unemployment under 4% and solid income growth, consumer debt should sustain the present level of growth over the second half of 2023.”
You Can Now Get CUToday.info’s Daily News Headlines in Your Mailbox at the Low, Low Price of Free
Are you missing out on the latest news in credit unions? Missing the trends and developments you need to be aware of? We can help. Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more.
And it’s free!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com.