BUSINESS BRIEF

Cautious consumers trim credit-card use

10/7/2013

WASHINGTON — Americans cut back on using their credit cards in August for a third straight month, a sign that consumers remain cautious about spending.

Consumers increased their borrowing $13.6 billion in August to a seasonally adjusted $3.04 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That’s a record and it followed a gain of $10.4 billion in July.

Once again, the increase in borrowing was driven entirely by auto and student loans. A measure of those loans rose $14.5 billion to $2.19 trillion.

But credit-card debt dropped $883 million to roughly $850 billion.