The Federal Reserve tracks outstanding revolving consumer debt in its statistical release G.19. Revolving consumer debt is primarily, but not entirely credit card debt. The G.19 statistic includes all balances outstanding, not just those that are accruing interest and fees–it includes balances from transactors, who pay off their statement at the end of the month, as well as revolvers.

The last few months of G.19 statistics in terms of percent change at an annual rate have been a rollercoaster ride. In October and November revolving consumer credit grew at annual rates of 11.1% and 13.7% respectively. Now December has dropped to 2.7%. Any one want to share thoughts in the comments about what’s going on? It looks like we had a spike and then a sudden curtailment (in the Christmas shopping season of all times, when we usually see a jump in revolving credit)?