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U.S. revolving credit, 98% of which is credit card debt, decreased in April, to $931 billion from $939.6 billion the previous month, according to a Federal Reserve G.19 report on consumer credit released Friday. Total seasonally adjusted consumer credit outstanding, which includes revolving and nonrevolving credit, decreased at an annual rate of 7.4% in April to $2.52 trillion, the report states. Although revolving credit fell in April, the percentage of consumers who said they believe the economy is improving continued to grow in May, marking three consecutive monthly increases, according to survey data Discover Financial Services released last week (CardLine, 6/3). The Riverwoods, Ill.-based company's U.S. Spending Monitor last month rose two points to 86.2, the highest the index has been since September. Discover set the index at 100 when it introduced it in May 2007. Some 27% of consumers surveyed in May said they believed the economy is getting better, five percentage points higher than did in April. Conversely, 49% of respondents said they thought conditions were getting worse, down from 51% who said so the previous month.
