WASHINGTON — Americans borrowed more in September to buy cars and attend college, but they charged less to their credit cards for a third straight month. The figures suggest that consumers are growing more cautious about taking on high-interest debt in a weak economy.
Total consumer borrowing rose by $7.4 billion in September, the Federal Reserve said Monday. In August, it had fallen by the most in 16 months.
The September increase reflected a 5.8 percent increase in borrowing in the category that includes car and student loans. But the category that covers credit-card purchases dropped 1 percent after larger declines in July and August.
Credit-card use has sunk nearly 19 percent since September 2008, the height of the financial crisis. For many consumers, adding debt with high interest rates is too risky when jobs are scarce, raises are few and unemployment has been stuck near 9 percent for more than two years.
“Households continue to prefer cash over credit as employment, income and wealth prospects remain feeble,” said Gregory Daco, principal U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.
The average annual percentage rate ticked up to 14.46 percent for variable-rate credit cards and was unchanged at 13.71 percent for fixed-rate credit cards, according to .
Auto loans are far cheaper. The average rate for a 48-month new-car loan was 5.31 percent last week.
