Credit card balances have grown steadily over the past few months, indicating that the market is coming out of the doldrums.According to Reserve Bank credit and charge card statistics released on Friday, balances accruing interest increased from A$35 billion in January to $35.2 billion in February. Since October, when balances accruing interest hit a 12-month low of  $33.9 billion, balances have grown by 3.8 per cent.MWE Consulting principal, Mike Ebstein, said there were other indicators of growth. Total spend was up month-on-month and year-on-year.Consumer spent $274.4 billion on credit and charge cards over the 12 months to February - an increase of 5.2 per cent over the previous 12 months.With 15.6 million cards on issue, the average value of purchases in February was $1367 per card. A year earlier, when there were 15.2 million cards on issue, the average value of purchases was $1324 per card.The average annual spend per card for the 12 months to February was $17,773, compared with $17,269 a year earlier.Ebstein said the shift in card spending from credit and charge to debit had lost momentum over the past six months.