Americans backed away from swiping their credit cards for the 21st straight month. Households are borrowing less and saving more, and that has dragged on the overall economy by lowering consumer spending.

Overall credit dropped 0.7 percent in June. It was the smallest decline since credit increased 1.8 percent in January, the only rise since the beginning of 2009. The decrease left consumer credit at an annual rate of $2.42 trillion.

No tags