A new report shows that consumers are charging less to their credit cards while also paying down the balances on those cards.

The Federal Reserve reported last week that revolving credit — which is made up almost entirely of consumer credit card debt — fell by $8.6 billion in April, an annualized rate of 11 percent (“Fed: Credit Card, All Consumer Spending Declines,” CreditCards.com, June 5, 2009).

This is the seventh straight month of declines in revolving credit since October 2008 and the longest pullback in revolving credit balances on record since the Federal Reserve began reporting on consumer credit in 1968.

“The trend is certainly toward having less revolving consumer credit outstanding,” said Cynthia Ullrich, senior director at Fitch Ratings in New York.

Overall consumer debt, which also includes nonrevolving debt like auto loans and student loans,, dropped by a total of $15.7 billion in April, for an annualized rate of 7.4 percent — the second largest contraction in consumer debt in history (“Consumer Debt Plunges by $15.7 Billion in April,” MarketWatch, June 5, 2009).

Consumer debt has decreased by $43 billion in just the last three months, after jumping by $131 billion in 2007.

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