Revolving credit in the US hit a new record high in January, data released on Tuesday showed.

At $1.215 trillion, the mountainous pile is now 10% taller than it was in February of 2020, on the eve of the pandemic, and a truly “impressive” 25% higher than the pandemic-era low reached in January of 2021, when consumers were still receiving various forms of stimulus.

The increase from December was a relatively pedestrian $11.2 billion. Figures for October and November were revised markedly higher, though.

January marked the 22nd consecutive monthly gain. Revolving credit balances have risen every month since inflation took off in earnest in early 2021. The numbers aren’t adjusted for prices.

The YoY increase was 15.6%. That was the second-fastest pace since August of 1996. On a continuously compounded basis, the annual rate was 11.1%.

Note from the visual that there have only been two periods of deleveraging in more than three decades: Post-Lehman and post-plague, with the latter assisted by government transfer payments.

Overall consumer credit rose to almost $4.8 trillion. The $14.8 billion increase from December was more than $10 billion short of the $25.4 billion consensus expected.

Both retail sales and PCE figures suggested Americans spent freely in January. New York Fed data released last month showed US consumers had nearly $1 trillion in credit card debt as of Q4. According to Bankrate, current credit card rates are 19.94%.