U.S. consumers, feeling the strain of a housing slump and related credit crunch, have reined in their borrowing, which could further damp spending.
The Federal Reserve said consumer borrowing rose at a seasonally adjusted 2.4% annual rate in February to $2.54 trillion, half the 4.9% pace recorded in January. Credit-card borrowing rose at a 5.9% pace in February, but demand for auto loans and other kinds of nonrevolving debt slowed to a 0.4% rate.
The slowdown isn't a surprise. As the financial crisis has deepened, credit-card companies and lenders have tightened their standards and have been more cautious about lending.
Large credit-card issuers such as Citigroup Inc. are requiring higher credit scores for people wanting cards. Many card issuers are raising late fees and other charges. GMAC LLC has said it will close the majority of its auto-financing offices in the U.S. and Canada this year and cut nearly 1,000 jobs. 'It seems that when lenders are presented with a new lending proposition, they are more inclined to refuse,' said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, of Valhalla, N.Y., in a note to clients.
The slower demand for credit also partly reflects consumers' struggles to meet current loan obligations. The American Bankers Association said last week that consumer-credit delinquencies in the last three months of 2007 were at their highest levels in nearly 16 years, and it predicted there would be no relief this year amid 'stubbornly high' food and gasoline prices and 'anemic' income growth.
Part of the reason why credit-card borrowing continues to rise -- albeit at a slower pace -- is that homeowners' ability to take out home-equity lines of credit has shrunk, said Steven Wood of Insight Economics.
Mr. Wood and others caution that consumers' reduced access to credit, combined with slowing income growth, will further dent consumer spending, the main driver of U.S. economic activity. The U.S. economy grew just 0.6% in the last three months of 2007, and many analysts expect the economy to contract during the first half of 2008.
The grim prognosis shows the extent to which the housing downturn and credit crunch have damaged the U.S. economy.
'The silver lining, if there is one, is that the weakness...will help depress crude-oil prices' and push down inflation, Mr. Shepherdson said in his note.
受房价下跌和信贷危机影响，美国消费者对贷款的态度偏向克制，这有可能导致消费开支进一步萎缩。
据美国联邦储备委员会(Fed)公布的数据，2月份美国消费者贷款额达到2.54万亿美元，经季节性因素调整后增幅折合年率为2.4%，此前1月份的增幅为4.9%。2月份的信用卡借款增幅为5.9%，而汽车贷款和其他类别的非循环借款增幅却跌至0.4%。
贷款增幅出现下降并不奇怪。随着金融危机向纵深发展，信用卡公司和贷款发放机构收紧了放贷标准，对放贷业务变得更谨慎了。
像花旗集团(Citigroup Inc.)等大型信用卡发放机构现在提高了信用卡申请人的信用纪录要求。许多信用卡发行机构上调了滞纳金和其他收费。GMAC LLC则表示，今年将关闭在美国和加拿大的大部分汽车信贷业务网点，并相应裁减近1,000个职位。High Frequency Economics首席美国经济学家伊恩•谢弗逊(Ian Shepherdson)在客户报告中说，贷款机构设置新的贷款条件的时候，似乎意味着他们拒绝申请人的可能性加大了。
贷款需求下降一定程度上也反映出消费者疲于偿付现有贷款。美国银行家协会(American Bankers Association)上周说，2007年最后一个季度的信用卡拖欠率是近16年以来的最高水平。该协会预计，由于食品和汽油价格坚挺而收入增长疲软，今年这种情况不会有明显改善。
Insight Economics的斯蒂芬•伍德(Steven Wood)说，虽然信用卡贷款增幅放缓，但贷款额还在继续增加，部分原因是消费者的房屋净值贷款额度在缩水。
伍德及其他一些人警告说，消费者贷款机会减少和收入增幅下降将导致他们进一步抑制开支，而这是推动美国经济的主要动力。去年第四季度，美国经济增幅只有区区0.6%，而许多分析师预计，今年上半年美国经济将进一步收缩。
这种前景显示出住房和信贷危机对美国经济造成了怎样的破坏。
谢弗逊在报告中说，唯一的希望是疲软或许能有助于抑制油价涨势和通货膨胀的继续发展。