Consumer credit inquiries in the June quarter were down 5.1 per cent on the previous quarter, according to the latest Veda Advantage consumer credit demand index.The big driver of this change was demand for credit cards, which fell 8.9 per cent in the June quarter. Applications for personal loans were down 1.1 per cent.Applications for mortgages in the June quarter were up 6.3 per cent on the previous quarter.Veda's findings support comments by the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens, yesterday as to the reasons why the bank held the cash rate steady.Stevens said: "Most financial indicators suggest that monetary policy has been exerting a degree of restraint. Credit growth has declined over recent months and is very subdued by historical standards, even with evidence of greater willingness to lend."Australian Bureau of Statistics' housing finance data, released yesterday, shows that lending volumes have been flat over the past few months. In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of housing finance commitments from May to July increased just 1.65 per cent (from 49,004 to 49,813) and the value of those loans increased 1.5 per cent.