Consumer borrowing surges again in April

Consumer borrowing surged again in April, helped by the largest gain in credit card borrowing in a year.

Consumer borrowing expanded by $20.5 billion in April, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. That was down only slightly from a gain of $21.3 billion in March, the biggest increase in eight months. The strong gains pushed consumer credit to a fresh record of $3.38 trillion.

Borrowing in the catego- ry that includes credit cards jumped $8.6 billion, the largest rise in 12 months.

Borrowing in the category that covers auto and student loans advanced a solid $11.9 billion, after an even bigger $16.5-billion increase in March.

Economists expect that consumers, who have seen strong job gains over the last year, will keep borrowing and spending in coming months, helping to boost economic growth.

The overall category is up 6.6% from a year earlier.