Credit unions and other lenders saw strong gains in credit card balances from April to May, in another sign consumer spending is rebounding from the pandemic.
The Fed's G-19 Consumer Credit Report released Thursday showed credit unions held $60.6 billion in credit card debt in May. The total is still down 0.9% from a year earlier and down 7.1% from the pre-pandemic month of February 2020. However, it rose 3.4% from April to May — the first month-to-month gain since December 2020 and the strongest monthly gain since December 2019.
Historically, May is the third-strongest month for credit card spending after the holiday months of November and December. Balances typically rise 1% from April to May, based on averages of Fed data from 2010 through 2019.
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