Consumers slashed borrowing at a faster-than-expected pace in August for the seventh straight month, MarketWatch reported.

The Federal Reserve said consumers cut $11.98 billion in borrowing in August, trimming their outstanding debt to $2.46 trillion, representing a 5.8 percent annual rate.

Credit-card debt dropped the most, falling $9.91 billion to $899.41 billion, a 13.1 percent annualized rate.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo & Co. will raise credit card interest rates 3 percent in advance of implementation of a federal law intended to hold down such increases, Bloomberg reported.

“This is something we’ve been contemplating for quite a period of time,” Kevin Rhein, group head of card services for Wells Fargo, told Bloomberg. “We had just reached the point that we don’t think we can offer credit cards at the current pricing and keep credit flowing.”

Wells Fargo began advising customers this week that the change takes effect on Nov. 30, one day before House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank wants curbs on rates and fees to become effective under a new credit-card law. Frank plans a hearing today on moving up the date to Dec. 1 from Feb. 22 to head off increases by card issuers.

Rhein didn’t comment on whether Frank’s bill had a bearing on the timing of Wells Fargo’s rate increases. The bank also is eliminating over-limit fees, which are imposed when customers exceed their credit lines, he said.

Wells Fargo is the eighth-biggest U.S. card lender, Rhein said. The company accepted $25 billion from the government’s bank bailout program.

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. credit-card lender after JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in letters to Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd that it wouldn’t raise rates and fees on customers in good standing until the effective dates of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act.