Consumer revolving debt lost some steam in June following a U.S. credit card spring spurt wherein Americans added $14 billion over the prior two-month period. However, the spring credit card bubble mirrors consumer behavior of ten years ago, shortly before the Great Recession. U.S. revolving credit, mostly credit card debt, edged down by 0.1% or…
Global card facts 2019 reveal there is booming competition outside the U.S. for payment cards (credit + charge + debit + prepaid), especially for Visa and Mastercard. The number of payments cards-in-force globally for the four largest U.S.-based networks topped 5.6 billion this year, growing about 7% annually. American Express and Capital One are experiencing…
The consumer economic outlook showed signs of a rebirth in July following two months of the doldrums. All consumer indices showed upticks in short-term confidence. This brightening in the outlook comes at the same time as the U.S. enters the longest economic expansion in its history. July is the 121st consecutive month of gross domestic…
British card debt ticked down again in June to its lowest annual growth rate in more than five years, driven by economic chaos over the uncertain impact of Brexit. Overall the annual growth rate of total U.K. consumer credit slowed to its lowest growth since April 2014. The only bright spot is net borrowing for…
Australian fantastic plastic, or what locals call credit cards, continued to decline across-the-board except for a little pick up in the amount of purchases in May. Consumer credit card outstandings continue on a downward spiral. Over the course of the past year Aussie’s have cut up at least nearly half a million credit cards, based…
Late credit card payments are increasing slowly but surely over the past five years and setting new records. At the same time credit card users have resumed piling on more debt. These two signs along with other economic and investment metrics point to a downturn in the coming year and most likely through 2020. For…
Cheap dates & cheap weddings might become the new thang as those who splurge on their “Big Day” end up with regrets, money fights and, no kidding: Divorce. Traditionally, Daddy Warbucks would cough up the dough for his daughter’s wedding. However, more couples today are doing it on their own dime, and if necessary, on…
Business owner blues follows economic optimism, expressed last month, perhaps an aberration. In June, small biz owners turned pessimistic citing the continued difficulty of finding qualified workers, difficulty in planning inventories, and likelihood of interest rates rising, as significant factors. The impact of trade tariffs on consumer spending, starting this fall, has added even more…
A credit card bubble is quickly swelling and perhaps mirroring consumer behavior of ten years ago, shortly before the Great Recession. U.S. revolving credit, mostly credit card debt, made a sharp rebound for the second consecutive month, jumping by an annual growth rate of 8.2%, after surging 7.9% in April, in the wake of a…
U.K. card debt ticked downward again in May to an annual rate of 5.5%, its lowest annual growth rate in more than five years. Overall the annual growth rate of consumer credit slowed to 5.6% in May, the lowest growth since April 2014. However, consumer credit increased by £0.8 billion in May, in line with…
