Consumer credit rose $10.6 billion in September, the 22nd straight monthly advance, although the growth was slower than in August, the government reports.
The Federal Reserve said installment debt jumped 14.6 percent at an annual rate, compared with a 21.3 percent increase in August, when consumer spending rose a revised $15.2 billion. The August increase, the largest since $16.3 billion in January 1989, originally was estimated to have been a much smaller $11.2 billion.Consumer credit includes all household debt not secured by real estate, such as home equity loans and home mortgages. The totals were adjusted for seasonal variations.
Michael K. Evans, head of Evans Economics Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla., economic consulting service, said the smaller increase was a result of slower retail sales in September.
The government reported earlier that the increase in retail sales - one-third of the nation's economic activity - slowed to 0.6 percent in September, compared with a 1.1 percent gain in August.
Indeed, the use of revolving credit, including credit cards, slowed dramatically to an 8.6 percent advance in September after shooting up 29.7 percent the previous month, which was the largest increase since a 31 percent jump in June 1984. The growth in revolving credit totaled $2.3 billion in September, down from a $7.8 billion increase in August.
But automobile loans remained strong - rising 21.7 percent, a $5.6 billion increase, compared with a $4.5 billion increase a month earlier.
The category that includes loans for mobile homes, education, boats, trailers and vacations slowed in September. Still, it rose 13.5 percent, with a $2.7 billion increase, after gaining $2.9 billion in August.
The increases boosted total outstanding consumer credit to $880 billion.