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Economy/Consumer Credit
Money & CreditUpdated with every release

Consumer Credit Outstanding

Total consumer credit outstanding (the Fed's G.19 release) sums revolving credit (mostly credit cards) and nonrevolving credit (auto and student loans), excluding mortgages. The year-over-year growth rate shows whether households are leaning harder on borrowing to sustain spending.

Consumer CreditReleased 2026-09-08covers Jul 2026
2.6%
from 2.5%

YoY %

Outstanding ($)
$5.19T
All-time high 51.2% (1946-11)
All-time low -17.9% (1944-01)
Since 1944
Observations 991

Next release: Oct 7, 2026

Latest reading

As of July 2026, Consumer Credit (YoY %) stands at 2.6% — up from 2.5% the prior reading, 48.7 pp below the November 1946 record of 51.2%. Steady single-digit growth is normal in an expansion. Accelerating revolving (credit-card) balances late in a cycle often signal stretched budgets, while a sharp slowdown or outright contraction (2009, 2020) marks deleveraging and retrenchment. Read credit growth against income and the saving rate — borrowing that consistently outpaces income growth is a late-cycle warning, however strong it looks. Series history runs from 1943 to present.

Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-09-18 · Open ↓
Source
Federal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TOTALSL), monthly, seasonally adjusted
Methodology
Complete monthly history, charted as released — release-dated readings, no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states
Updates
Monthly, with every releaseLast: 2026-09-18
Maintained & reviewed by Yuriy Matso — methodology shown on the page.
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Full history

Range:

Year-over-year %

YoY %SPY price (right, since 1993)

Credit outstanding ($)

Total US consumer credit outstanding — revolving plus non-revolving, excluding mortgages — in dollars, the debt stock behind the year-over-year growth rate.

Consumer credit outstanding ($)SPY price (right, since 1993)
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Methodology & data

Consumer Credit is sourced from Fed via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Federal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TOTALSL), monthly, seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.

Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-09-18. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Consumer Credit Outstanding?

Total consumer credit outstanding (the Fed's G.19 release) sums revolving credit (mostly credit cards) and nonrevolving credit (auto and student loans), excluding mortgages. The year-over-year growth rate shows whether households are leaning harder on borrowing to sustain spending.

How do you read Consumer Credit?

Steady single-digit growth is normal in an expansion. Accelerating revolving (credit-card) balances late in a cycle often signal stretched budgets, while a sharp slowdown or outright contraction (2009, 2020) marks deleveraging and retrenchment. Read credit growth against income and the saving rate — borrowing that consistently outpaces income growth is a late-cycle warning, however strong it looks.

Where does the Consumer Credit data come from?

Federal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TOTALSL), monthly, seasonally adjusted. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/consumer-credit.csv.

How often is Consumer Credit updated?

Consumer Credit is a monthly series from Fed, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.