Wall Street is starting to worry that consumers may have borrowed too much money.

So let's assume a consumer borrows £200,000 from this bank.

Consumers increased their debts in March and borrowed much more during previous months than had been estimated.

In order to make up the difference the private consumer must borrow an additional £500 bn.

But with the dampening of economic growth this year, consumers have been borrowing less since January.

Throughout the economy the American consumer has been borrowing and spending like a drunken sailor.

American consumers have borrowed against the future by squandering their savings.

There were signs that consumers were borrowing more money for big projects.

Consumers borrowed money and bought heavily, reasoning, correctly, that the goods would cost more next week.

Consumers as a group borrow a large amount and do less comparison shopping than big companies, resulting in higher profit margins.