Pace of Consumer Credit Growth Slows

Americans took out $3.4 billion more in consumer credit than they retired in February, but the pace slowed because of slackening demand for car loans, the government said Thursday.

The Federal Reserve said consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.7%, down from January’s revised 6.4% pace. The January rate was reported last month to have been 5.9%.

Consumer credit, which includes all consumer loans except mortgages, was up 7.3% in December.

Automobile loans advanced in February to a seasonally adjusted $889 million in February. That represented an annual rate of 3.7%, less than half the 8.4% jump in January when sales incentives were reinstated. The incentives continued in February, but consumer response failed to keep up.

Without incentives, auto loans had fallen 0.4% in December.