The Federal Reserve Consumer Credit Report shows a sharp increase in loans from banks in November. The consumer credit rose by $16 billion from October to $2.77 trillion in November.
The Federal Reserve's report covers auto loans, student loans and credit cards and excludes mortgages, home equity loans and real estate based loans. The autos and student loans recorded $15.2 billion, while the credit card borrowings amount to just $817 million.
The usage of credit card was at an all-time high, four years ago, with $1.03 trillion. The reason for increase in student loans may be due to unemployed Americans choosing new career paths to gain better jobs.
At the same time, auto sales grew 13.4 percent in 2012 to top 14 million units for the first time in five years. The reason for a hike in auto sales maybe attributed to Hurricane Sandy.
Analysts predict that the borrowing trends will stay the same throughout the year, said The Reporter.
Paul Edelstein, an economist at Global Insight, told The Reporter that consumers are willing to take on more debt, but slow wage growth and high unemployment might keep their household budgets tight.
With lower gas prices and steady job growth during the last three months, consumers might have gained confidence for spending and investing more money. November and December months also saw an addition of 161,000 and 155,000 jobs respectively, according to the report.
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