Analytics

Consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 are driving up debit card use to control spending, though older Baby Boomers continue to rely on credit cards for most purchases, new research suggests.

Some large banks are starting to ease underwriting standards on U.S. consumer credit card applications, according to survey data the Federal Reserve Board released Jan. 31.

A continued decline in credit card charge-offs indicates “the bleeding has stopped” from loans that went into default during the recession, but card lending is likely to remain sluggish in the near term, one analyst contends.

TMG Financial Services said it experienced credit card portfolio growth last year, both organically and through portfolio purchases.

The percentage of outstanding balances that credit cardholders pay off each month surged last year — a favorable sign for loan performance that mirrored plummeting chargeoffs but that now stands as an obstacle to portfolio growth.

Total consumer debt, including mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and personal loans, in November declined to $10.6 trillion from its peak of $11.5 trillion in October 2008, according to Equifax Inc.’s monthly Consumer Credit Trends Report released this week. Some 54 million American households owe issuers more than $800 billion in card debt.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, the chairman of the House Financial Services Oversight Subcommittee, said it is time for the government to admit its foreclosure-prevention efforts are a failure and should be shut down.

More than a year after it snapped back from the financial crisis, American Express Co. is ramping up investments for growth.

U.S. states with the greatest amount of outstanding consumer credit card debt roughly parallel those with the most population, but a few states buck that trend, according to new data Equifax Inc. released Jan. 24.

As business lending begins to show some vigor, fainter signs of life have cropped up in other credit categories.

The Durbin amendment carved out smaller banks from its mandate to restrict debit swipe fees, and at least one of the major networks is willing to oblige, but equity markets do not appear to have cut the group much slack.

Several of the biggest credit card issuers in December posted their lowest rates for chargeoffs than in any other month of 2010, meaning fewer accounts are slipping into default.

The average U.S. bankcard charge-off rate in December declined 144 basis points to 6.73% from 8.17% a year earlier, according to data Standard & Poor’s Ratings Group and ExperianPLC released Jan. 18.

As business lending begins to show some vigor, fainter signs of life have cropped up in other credit categories.

Verifi Inc., which provides risk-management services for card-not-present merchants, has formed a partnership with Demandware Inc. to provide online merchants with fraud-prevention and risk-management services, Verifi announced Jan. 12.

U.S. consumers’ average credit scores slipped one point in the past year, and credit card debt fell by 8% to $7,404 during the same period, according to data released Jan. 12 by Credit Karma.

Consumers in the United Kingdom are using credit cards less to avoid debt, but issuers still have opportunities to increase card use by better conveying the benefits and value credit cards offer, new research suggests.

The universe of bonds backed by credit card loans shrank by about a fifth last year as an era of off-balance-sheet accounting ended and the industry re-engineered its funding base.

Newly released terms of the Small Business Lending Fund are fueling fears that may discourage participation in the program.

Average U.S. consumer bankcard and private-label credit card charge-offs fell again in November, and that trend may continue into this year, according to new data Fitch Ratings Inc. released Jan. 4.