Revolving credit, which is mostly credit card balances, fell at a 4.4 per cent annual rate in August and rose at a 14.5 per cent rate in September, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. Monthly card figures swing like that. The quarterly ones do not, and they point the same way.
Total consumer credit, which covers card balances and loans for cars, education and other personal spending but not mortgages, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 per cent in the third quarter, to $5,224.4 billion. That is the third quarterly acceleration in a row.
How fast is consumer borrowing growing?
Faster than at any point in the five quarters shown in the Fed's current release, and faster than in any full year since 2022. The annual rates run from 2.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2025 to 4.2 per cent now.
U.S. consumer credit growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate, per cent, Federal Reserve G.19)
| Period | Total | Revolving | Nonrevolving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.7 | 15.4 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 8.9 | 0.6 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 4.1 | 1.2 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 1.8 |
| Third quarter 2025 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 1.9 |
| Fourth quarter 2025 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 1.6 |
| First quarter 2026 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 2.0 |
| Second quarter 2026 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 2.4 |
| Third quarter 2026 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
The change in the last row is in the nonrevolving column. Card balances grew at roughly the same pace as in the spring. Instalment loans, which had been growing at about 2 per cent a year, grew at more than twice that rate.
Which loans drove the third quarter?
Student loans and car loans. The Fed publishes those two categories only without seasonal adjustment, so we used the unadjusted figures for this split. On that basis, consumer credit rose by $69.2 billion between the end of June and the end of September.
Increase in consumer credit outstanding, second to third quarter of 2026 (billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted, this publication's arithmetic from Federal Reserve G.19)
| Type | End of June | End of September | Increase | Share of increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student loans | 1,861.8 | 1,884.6 | +22.8 | 33% |
| Motor vehicle loans | 1,574.6 | 1,589.8 | +15.2 | 22% |
| Revolving (mostly cards) | 1,309.0 | 1,323.2 | +14.2 | 21% |
| Other nonrevolving | 377.5 | 394.5 | +17.0 | 25% |
| Total | 5,122.9 | 5,192.1 | +69.2 | 100% |
Other nonrevolving is the remainder: nonrevolving credit less student and motor vehicle loans. Shares do not sum to 100 because of rounding.
The student loan figure deserves care. The federal government, which holds most student debt, saw its consumer credit holdings rise by $25.0 billion in the quarter, to $1,632.9 billion. Student loan balances rise when new loans are paid out, which happens mostly at the start of the academic year. They also grow when borrowers are not paying and interest is added. This publication reported in October that about nine million borrowers are in default. The G.19 does not separate the two effects, and we do not try to.
Car loans grew by $15.2 billion, the largest of the three quarterly increases this year. The release shows commercial bank rates on a 60-month new-car loan at 7.54 per cent in the third quarter, up from 7.14 per cent in the second.
Is that a lot once inflation is counted?
No. Seasonally adjusted consumer credit was $5,224.4 billion at the end of September and $5,072.0 billion a year earlier, a rise of 3.0 per cent, by our arithmetic. The consumer price index rose 3.7 per cent over the 12 months to September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In real terms, Americans owe slightly less on these loans than they did a year ago.
The same test on card balances alone comes out the other way. Unadjusted revolving credit was 4.4 per cent higher than a year earlier, which is faster than prices. In a survey this publication reported in September, two-thirds of people already carrying heavy unsecured debt said they had put food on a credit card in the past year.
The cost of carrying those balances has turned up. Interest on credit card accounts that were charged interest averaged 22.36 per cent in the third quarter, up from 21.52 per cent in the first, according to the release. On all card accounts the rate was 21.19 per cent, against 20.94 per cent in the second quarter. The Fed raised its policy rate in September and held it at 3.75 to 4 per cent on 28 October.
What the release does not show
Delinquency. The G.19 counts balances, not missed payments. A faster rise in student balances can mean more lending or less repaying, and the release cannot tell them apart. Balances also say nothing about who holds them. The quarterly household debt report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which uses credit bureau records, covers delinquencies by loan type and age group.
What to watch next
The October G.19 is due in early December, and with it the first sign of whether September's jump in card balances carried into the holiday season. Before then, the Fed's 8 and 9 December meeting will decide whether card rates have further to rise. After Friday's jobs report, futures traders put the chance of a quarter-point increase at 76.8 per cent, according to the CME FedWatch tool as reported by InvestmentNews.
All consumer credit levels, growth rates, holder data, the student and motor vehicle loan memo items and interest rates are from the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Credit G.19 statistical release for September 2026, published 6 November 2026. The consumer price index is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' all-items index, not seasonally adjusted, as published on FRED and retrieved 9 November 2026. The Fed's September rate increase and its 28 October decision are from the FOMC statement of 28 October 2026 and earlier reporting in this publication. Quarterly dollar changes, the split by loan type, the 12-month growth rates and the comparison with inflation are this publication's arithmetic. The analysis is our own.
Topics moneyconsumer creditFederal Reservecredit cardsstudent loansauto loanshousehold debtinflationinterest rates
