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Consumer Debt Declined a Record $21.5 Billion in July

Last November USA consumer debt fell, by a then record of $8 billion. In July, 2009, consumer debt was reduced another $21 billion, which is a good sign.

April of 2008 USA consumer debt stood at $2.54 trillion. Based on a population of 300 million people that would mean $8,467 for every person in just personal debt. Living beyond your means is not a good thing. After the July decrease of $21.55 billion, the total consumer debt stood at $2.47 trillion, a decline of $70 billion over the last 15 months.

Decreasing this debt level was (and is) necessary. If that means we have some suffering today to pay for living beyond our means for years the ‘fix’ is not to continue to live beyond our means. The ‘fix’ is to accept the consequences of past behavior and build a more sustainable economy now for the future.

Consumer credit down record amount in July

This is the sixth straight monthly drop in consumer credit — the longest consecutive string of declines in credit since the second half of 1991.

Consumers have retrenched since the financial crisis hit in full force last September. Credit has fallen in every month except January. In percentage terms, the drop in credit is the biggest since June 1975.

And on a year-on-year basis, credit is down 4.3%, the biggest drop since June 1944. The retrenchment was much more than expected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected consumer credit to decline by $4.3 billion. There were also sharp downward revisions to June data.

Economists said shrinking credit might strangle the recovery. “There is no real way to put a positive spin on these data. Credit is still shrinking and that is going to have an impact on consumption,” wrote Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist at TD Securities, in a note to clients.
…
credit-card debt fell $6.11 billion, or 8.5%, in July to $905.58 billion. This is the record 11th straight monthly drop in credit card debt. Non-revolving credit, such as auto loans, personal loans and student loans fell a record $15.44 billion or 11.7% to $1.57 trillion.

Here is a positive spin on it. We owe $21.5 billion less than we did last month. How lost are we that there is no positive way to spin owing less money than you used to owe?

Related: Personal Saving and Personal Debt in the USA – Americans are Drowning in Debt

September 8th, 2009 John Hunter | 2 Comments | Tags: Economics, Personal finance, quote

Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Loan Default Rates Continue to Increase on September 9, 2009 7:00 am

    […] steps to reduce the large consumer debt have been made recently: consumer debt declined a record $21.5 billion in July. Since April of 2008 consumer debt has been reduced by $70 billion in the USA. Unfortunately we […]

  2. Consumer Debt Down Over $100 Billion So Far in 2009 at Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog on November 7, 2009 8:11 am

    […] Consumer Debt Declined a Record $21.5 Billion in July – The USA Economy Needs to Reduce Personal and Government Debt – Let the Good Times […]

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