Consumers Boost Borrowing Despite Prices

Consumers boosted their borrowing in March… showing resilience in the face of rising energy prices and a painful housing slump. The Federal Reserve's report, released Monday, showed consumer credit increased at a brisk annual rate of 6.7% in March… Up from February's 2.8% growth rate and the biggest increase since November… The Fed's measure of consumer borrowing does not include mortgages or other loans secured by real estate. The March increase pushed total consumer debt up by… $13.46 billion to a record $2.43 trillion… Economists were expecting consumer borrowing to rise by $4.5b in March.

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