(ZEROHEDGE) – While it is traditionally viewed as a B-grade indicator, the February consumer credit report from the Federal Reserve was an absolute stunner and confirmed what we have been saying for month: any excess savings accumulated by the US middle class are long gone, and in their place Americans have unleashed a credit-card fueled spending spree.
Here are the shocking numbers: in November, consumer credit exploded by a whopping $41.8 billion, more than double the expected $18.1 billion print, nearly five times more than the upward revised $8.9 billion January number (revised from $6.8 billion), and the highest on record.
And while non-revolving credit (student and car loans) surged by a near record 23.8 billion, the third highest on record, the real stunner was revolving, or credit card debt, which soared nearly six-fold February to $18 billion from $3.1 billion in January, the second highest print on record, just in time for those credit card APR to starting moving higher, first slowly and then fast.
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