Earlier today I posted a graphic of bank lending in major economies including the US. Along the same lines, here is a graphic of US consumer credit outstanding. December was a strong month for credit growth - in fact the largest since February 2013. This graphic packs a good punch since it also shows cumulative credit stock (the middle panel on top) which shows very nicely the "deleveraging" period after 2008, but also how credit growth returned to trend over the last few years. This growth is one of the reasons that the US economy is doing better than Europe