The Federal Reserve has issued it's consumer credit report for August 2009.

Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-3/4 percent in August 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 13 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 1-1/2 percent.

Revolving credit means credit cards in so many words. So, awesome Americans are starving the beast on those greedy bastards.

Total credit though, which means car loans, personal loans also dropped.

Bloomberg:

“Demand for credit has just gone through the floor,” said Ellen Zentner, senior macro economist at Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “Households are in paying- down-debt mode, they’re not in the mode of taking on new debt.”

Economists had forecast consumer credit would drop $10 billion in August, according to the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from a decline of $15 billion to an increase of $6.2 billion. The Fed initially said consumer credit decreased a record $21.6 billion in July.

The numbers to me are still astounding. $2.46 trillion dollars in consumer debt and that does not include mortgages.

This is the longest decline in consumer debt since 1991.

While Bloomberg and the Fed call it credit, I call it debt. It's astounding how they blame this all on job loss. Could it be that the American people are very sick and tired of the financial institutions robbing them blind on high interest rates, late charges and overdraft fees and are plain getting rid of their debt as fast as they can, at least in part?