Consumer Debt Growth Slows: Americans cut the...

Consumer Debt Growth Slows: Americans cut the growth of their installment credit in half in August, the Federal Reserve reported. Consumers took out a seasonally adjusted $2.1 billion more than they repaid, an increase of 3.4% over July and slightly more than the average of $1.78 billion a month during the first seven months of 1990. But the growth of consumer credit slowed dramatically from a net increase of $4.73 billion, or 7.8% annual rate, during July. Auto loans continued to slide, down 7.3% from July, while credit card debt rose 10.1% from the previous month. But that was less than half of the 21.7% gain in July.