During March, consumers increased the amount of credit they carry on a year-over-year basis across nearly every lending category, according to the latest National Credit Trends Report from the credit monitoring bureau Equifax. In particular, the amount of consumer installment loans, auto loans and credit cards spiked significantly more than other types of credit.
In all, auto loans rose 23 percent during the month, while consumers opened more than 14 percent more credit cards than they did in the same month in 2010, the report said. Similarly, various consumer installment loans rose 33.9 percent overall, reaching a five-year high.
In addition, the study found that consumers have been consistently more capable of paying their bills on time, reducing their debt and boosting the national average credit score as a consequence, the report said. However, available credit is still about 50 percent lower than the pre-recession levels observed in 2006.
Many reports have come out in recent months highlighting the particular new trend in credit card borrowing that has seen consumers reduce delinquency and defaults significantly, the report said.
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