Consumer Credit Rose by Unexpected $7.78 Billion

AP

U.S. consumer borrowing rose by a larger-than-expected $7.78 billion in May, a Federal Reserve report showed.

May consumer credit rose at a 3.64 percent annual rate to a total of $2.571 trillion. Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting a $7 billion rise in consumer borrowing.

April was revised to a $7.76 billion increase — originally reported as a $8.95 billion rise.

Revolving credit, made up of credit and charge cards, increased $5.69 billion, or a 7.14 percent rate, to $961.8 billion in May. That compares to an downwardly revised April decrease of $424 million, or a 0.53 percent rate, the first decline since May 2005.

Non-revolving credit, which includes closed-end loans for big-ticket items like cars, boats, college educations and holidays, rose $2.09 billion, or a 1.56 percent rate, to $1.609 trillion. This compares to an downwardly revised April increase of $8.19 billion, or 6.15 percent.