
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991                   TAG: 9103080109
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CONSUMER CREDIT TAKES BIGGEST FALL IN 4 YEARS

Consumer credit fell at a 4 percent annual rate in January, the government said Thursday. It was the steepest plunge in four years as the twin traumas of recession and war curbed personal spending.

The Federal Reserve said installment debt dropped a seasonally adjusted $2.44 billion, the biggest decline since it fell 5 percent in February 1987.

Consumer credit includes all consumer loans except mortgages and home-equity debt. It helps finance much of overall consumer spending, which in turn represents two-thirds of the nation's economic activity.

Auto loans, which had fallen for six months before picking up at a 0.3 percent rate in November and 3.6 percent in December, dropped again - a sharp 8.2 percent, or a seasonally adjusted $1.95 billion.

Bank and credit-union loans not secured by real estate plummeted 14.7 percent, or $2.63 billion, following a 5.8 percent gain in December.

However, consumers reached again for their credit cards, boosting revolving credit by 7 percent, or $1.27 billion. Revolving credit had fallen 8.3 percent in December.

by CNB