Americans charged liberally into the holiday shopping season as consumer credit increased in November for the 24th consecutive month.
Consumer installment credit rose a larger-than-expected $12.884 billion in the month, led by credit-card usage, according to Federal Reserve figures released Monday. In October, consumer credit rose $11.642 billion.
Despite the Fed’s 11-month campaign of raising interest rates to cool the economy and contain inflation, there have been few signs of a slowdown in consumer demand outside of housing.
In Monday’s report, the Fed said installment credit totaled $904.487 billion in November, the first time it has topped $900 billion.
Meanwhile, the annual rate of consumer borrowing ran at 17.3 percent during November, up from a 15.9 percent pace in October, according to the Fed’s report.
Credit-card borrowing increased $6.721 billion in November, while auto loans rose $4.771 billion.
