Consumer credit reports year-over-year growth

With the United States continuing to move past the recession, consumer credit reports have shown marked improvement over the past two years - and ?debt collection agencies are reaping the benefits.

"Now that people have paid down their debts over the last several years and banks are now in much stronger positions to make loans, we are seeing credit availability improve and consumers are more willing to access that credit availability," said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial, according to Bloomberg News.

Credit card spending, which suffered the most from the recession, has shown a steady improvement. After declining in 2009 and 2010, credit card debt has grown in the past two years to reach nearly $860 billion in total.

After a slow start to 2012, Americans reportedly ended 2012 strong. According to statistics by the Federal Reserve, credit card spending increased nearly $820 million in November, while a separate report by Card Hub estimated that credit card debt grew more than $40 billion during the last three months of 2012. In addition, the study found that credit card debt increased $36.3 billion year over year.