U.S. consumers sunk further into debt into December, but credit growth slowed from the rapid-fire rate in November.

Consumer credit for the month of December increased at an annual rate of 2%, or US$4.5 billion, according to data released by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board this afternoon.

This is a sharp slowdown from November, when debt was revised upward, and rose a US$17.1 billion, or 8.2%.

Consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 4.5% in the fourth quarter of 2007 and rose 5.5% over the year as a whole, according to the Fed’s reports.

The total debt in the U.S. for December 2007 was US$2519.5 billion.

The consumer credit data do not include home mortgages or other real estate loans.

Commercial banks topped the list of debt holders, followed by finance companies, followed by pools of securitized assets and finance companies.