(Bloomberg). — U.S. consumer lending surged by the largest amount ever recorded in February, reflecting large increases in credit card balances as well as non-revolving loan amounts. 

After a January gain of $8.9B, total credit rose $41.8B to the end of March. Federal Reserve data showed this Thursday. This increase exceeded the estimates of all economists in Bloomberg’s survey. Annualized, the borrowing rate rose by 11.3% 

The $18 billion increase in outstanding revolving credit, including credit cards, was due to increased credit card debt. 23.8 billion more was spent on non-revolving credits, including auto and school loan loans. These advances are among the largest ever recorded. Revolving credit decreased as usual for this month but less than it did in previous years. This could mean that February saw a decrease in the amount of debt consumers accumulated during holiday shopping season.

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