Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Consumer debt in the United States rose by the most in more than six years last quarter as Americans borrowed to buy homes and cars and to pay for education, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Household debt increased 2.1 percent $11.52 trillion, the biggest gain since the third quarter of 2007, the survey showed. The level of debt last quarter was $180 billion higher than a year earlier, the report showed.

"After a long period of deleveraging, households are borrowing again," Wilbert van der Klaauw, senior vice president and economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement.

Total indebtedness remains 9.1 percent below the peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, according to the New York Fed. Foreclosures are at the lowest levels since the end of 2005.

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