U.S. Consumer Credit Climbs More Than Expected In February

(RTTNews) - Consumer credit in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of February, according to a report released by Federal Reserve on Tuesday.

The report showed that consumer credit climbed by $15.5 billion in February following a downwardly revised increase of $10.8 billion January.

Economists had expected consumer credit to rise by $12.5 billion compared to the $11.6 billion increase originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected increase in consumer credit came as a jump in non-revolving credit more than offset a continued decrease in revolving credit.

Non-revolving credit such as student loans and car loans surged up by $19.2 billion in February after climbing by $11.8 billion in January.

Meanwhile, revolving credit, which largely reflects credit card debt, fell by $3.7 billion in February after edging down by $1 billion in the previous month.

The Fed also said consumer credit increased by an annual rate of 5.6 percent in February, as non-revolving credit jumped by 9.4 percent but revolving credit fell by 5.0 percent.