WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve says consumers slashed losses and uncertainty about the economic recovery prompted Americans to rein in their debt.

Consumers ratcheted back their credit by a larger-than-anticipated $21.6 billion from June, the most on records dating to 1943. Economists expected credit to drop by $4 billion.

July's retreat translated into an annualized drop of 10.4 percent. That was even sharper than the 7.4 percent annualized decline in June and the deepest cut since a 16.3 percent pace in June 1975.