Business Talk

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. consumer borrowing rose by a smaller-than-expected $4.71 billion in October as the total of non-revolving consumer loans shrank, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday, possibly linked to fallout from the country's cooling housing market.

Overall October consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 2.27 percent to a total of $2.490 trillion.

The September increase was revised downward to $3.21 billion from an originally reported gain of $3.75 billion, while the August gain was revised upward to $20.75 billion.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting a $5.0 billion rise in consumer borrowing for October.

Non-revolving credit, which includes closed-end loans for big-ticket items like cars, boats, college educations and holidays, fell $1.64 billion, or by 1.26 percent, to $1.561 trillion.

In addition, September's report of non-revolving credit was revised to show a decline of $1.37 billion from a previously reported $363 million increase. This compared to an upwardly revised August increase of $12.68 billion, or 9.8 percent.

Credit conditions are throught to have tightened in the wake of a collapse in the U.S. subprime mortgage market that spurred a global credit crunch in August.

Revolving credit, made up of credit and charge cards, rose $6.34 billion, or a 8.3 percent rate, to $928.49 billion in October. This compares to an upwardly revised September increase of $4.59 billion. (Reporting by Alister Bull and Patrick Rucker, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama,)