Consumers could return to tapping credit card debt in next five years
Written on May 4, 2012 – 1:21 am | by Antony Clark
In the last several years, the nations top lenders have seen consumers attitudes toward credit card debt change considerably as a result of the economic downturn, but some expect borrowers to start moving toward their old habits in the next few years.
Between 2007 and the end of 2012, the amount of revenues enjoyed by credit card lenders is expected to have fallen by an average of 4 percent annually, to a total of $50.8 billion, according to new data from the industry research firm IBISWorld. This was the result of a large number of economic conditions, including lower employment rates, falling home values and tighter lending standards, as well as increased regulatory control over the lending industry. Altogether, these led consumer to rely less on revolving credit – that is, debt carried over from one month to the next – and higher rates of consumer delinquency and default. Currently, those two concerns alone absorb a total of 26.3 percent of lenders revenues, though thats down from the high observed in 2009, at the height of the recent recession.
But now new statistics have shown that consumers are once again returning to using their credit cards to make everyday purchases again, though they are approaching it differently, the report said. Read more…
Tags: Card Debt, Credit Card, Credit Card Debt, Years
