Jan 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is probing the consumer business of Goldman Sachs Group Inc to determine whether the bank had appropriate safeguards in place as it ramped up lending, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)