Survey: Consumer Borrowing Will Rise in Next Six Months

American Banker reports that after spending the last few years paying down debts, consumers appear ready to increase their borrowing again, lenders say. In a survey of risk managers taken in the fourth quarter and released last week, 61 percent of respondents said they expect requests for home, car and other consumer loans to rise over the next six months. In the same survey taken three months earlier, just 48 percent of risk managers said that loan requests would increase in the subsequent months.