A record $21.6 billion drop in borrowing by Americans added to evidence that consumer spending will be slow to recover, as banks and credit-card companies tighten lending standards and households pay down debts, Bloomberg reported.

Consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 10 percent in July to $2.5 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released yesterday in Washington, D.C. The drop was more than five times larger than economists forecast. Credit fell for a sixth month, the longest series of declines since 1991.

“The consumer is hunkered down in the process of repairing his finances,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. “Consumers remain very cautious and won’t be leading us out of this recession.”

Unemployment that’s projected to reach 10 percent by early next year and a decline in household wealth are casting doubt on the strength of the recovery from the worst economic slump since the 1930s. Federal Reserve policy-makers, at their last meeting in August, expressed “uncertainty” about the projected pace of gains in spending by households.

The start of the government’s “cash for clunkers” program in late July wasn’t enough to keep credit that covers car loans from plummeting by a record amount, yesterday’s Fed report showed.

Non-revolving debt, including loans for automobiles and mobile homes, plunged by $15.4 billion in July. The Fed’s report doesn’t cover borrowing secured by real estate. Revolving debt, such as credit cards, fell by $6.1 billion.