Consumer Credit

Credit cards, baby.

In general, consumer credit refers to the debt consumers use to buy stuff. Go to the store...buy gerbil pellets...swipe the card, and you're on your way.

There's also a specific economic indicator called "consumer credit." It measures the total of consumer credit out there in the system. The report, issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve, comes out monthly. Just for reference, the July 2018 figure came in at $3.91 trillion, a 5.1 percent increase from the same period in 2017.

Consumer credit is made up of revolving credit (which includes credit cards) and its we-have-to-have-a-name-for-it-but-it's-getting-late-so-we'll-just-settle-for-this cousin, non-revolving credit (which consists of stuff like student and car loans).