Mortgage approvals in the United Kingdom fell and consumer credit dropped to the lowest in a decade in April, Bloomberg News reported today. Lenders granted 107,000 loans for house purchases, down from a revised 112,000 in March, the lowest in a year, the Bank of England said today in London. Borrowing by consumers on credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts fell to £498 million ($983 million), the least since March 1997. The report suggests consumers are not adding to record debts to fuel spending in shops or on homes, whose prices have risen about 10 percent in the past year. Investors are speculating the Bank of England will raise the benchmark interest rate a fifth time from a six-year high of 5.5 percent, which may further cool demand for loans.