NEW YORK – Corporate finance chiefs say credit is both more difficult to get and more expensive when it is available, but they are more optimistic about the U.S. economy, according to a new survey Monday.

The survey of 688 chief financial officers and senior comptrollers by Grant Thornton LLP found 64 percent of those polled said credit was more difficult to come by than one year ago, while 55 percent said credit costs have risen.

But only 14 percent said they had to tap bank credit because they could no longer access alternative financing, according to twice-yearly survey, conducted in mid-September. The majority said they did not have to turn to bank credit.

Nearly half of CFOs said they expected the U.S. economy to remain the same over the next six months, while 31 percent expect it to worsen and 22 percent predict an improving economy.

The results marked a more optimistic economic outlook compared with the previous survey, conducted in March, which did not ask about credit issues and included fewer respondents.

In March, 59 percent of CFOs said they expected the economy to worsen while fewer than 10 percent expected improvement, according to Grant Thornton.

(Reporting by Nick Zieminski, editing by Maureen Bavdek)