Category: Credit Cards

The rate at which the nation's largest credit card lenders had to strike accounts so delinquent they can no longer be considered collectable dropped once again, Fitch Ratings revealed, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Charge offs dropped 0.02 percentage points between September and October, to9.2 percent. That figure marked a 19-month low, and was 9 percent lower than the rate observed in October last year. And had it not been for a change in Citi's charge off policy, the rate would have slipped even lower, to 8.93 percent.

However, it was still considerably higher than Fitch's observed historical average for charge offs, which is just 5.93 percent, the report said.

Meanwhile, other forms of delinquency declined across the board as well, the report said. Late-stage delinquencies – those accounts 60 days or more behind, which are viewed as indicators of future charge offs – fell for the 10th month in a row, to a 25-month low of 3.43 percent. Accounts that had been 30 days or more behind dropped 0.01 percentage points between September and October to 4.51 percent.

In addition, Fitch found that consumers paid 0.42 percentage points less than they had in September, falling to 19.23 percent. However, that was still 4 percent higher than it was in October 2009, the report said.

Fitch managing director Michael Dean noted that continued improvements in rates of default and delinquency could continue in the coming months, and that this trend will persist even as the national rate of unemployment remains at or near 10 percent.

In recent months, industry experts have noticed that rates of delinquency and default have decoupled from moving alongside the national unemployment figures, which used to be the norm. However, some believe that this is because those without a job have seen their credit worsen to the point that they are no longer able to qualify for a credit card, effectively locking them out of the lending system entirely.

For the first time in about three years, the nation's credit card lenders have resumed sending preapproved offers to most consumers, including those whose credit rating is so bad that they were denied for a similar account just a few months ago, according to a report from the New York Times. However, banks are now hedging their bets by beefing up terms of these agreements, such as introducing higher interest rates on credit card debt and bringing back annual fees.

Lenders may be wary of consumers because, according to one financial consultancy firm, they wrote off $189 billion on defaulted credit card debt since the beginning of the fiscal meltdown in 2007, the report said. That accounts for nearly 10 percent of all money lost in the crisis.

In recent months, consumers who were flushed from the credit system have likely been unable to reestablish their rating. This may be partly because they have been unable to qualify for a new account that allows them to take on credit card debt.

Many kids want to receive a high-tech gadget when they open their presents during the holidays, and if they are lucky enough to receive such a gift, they need to be careful. Apple's App Store is positively brimming with kid-friendly games and other applications that will allow children to be theenvy of all their friends.

But if a parent makes the mistake of giving the child their own App Store username and password tied to the adult's accounts, it can result in unexpected credit card debt, according to a report from Babble.com. Many programs in the App Store cost money, usually not much more than a dollar or two, but enough that, if the child goes on a downloading spree, they can rack up added credit card debt.

In addition, some applications allow consumers to purchase in-game products such as exclusive items and other upgrades, leading to even more credit card debt, the report said. These so-called "in-app purchases" were first introduced by Apple last year and allows developers to charge consumers' iTunes accounts for transactions made in the games themselves.

However, Apple also introduced a requirement that consumers enter their login data after 15 minutes of inactivity in its various stores, the report said. However, some studies have found that this time period isn't necessarily set in stone, so even if a consumer logs into their own account to buy apps for their child then waits the appropriate amount of time, the kid might still be able to rack up credit card debt buying items in games.

However, there is a way to prevent any of these instances from taking place, the report said. An Apple spokeswoman told the site that users can restrict or even disable in-app purchases by using the options in the device's Settings app, under the "General" and "Restrictions" button.

Consumers have expressed a greater interest in avoiding credit card debt this holiday season. They can also do this with Apple products by tying their debit card to an App Store or iTunes account, rather than a credit card.

As of the end of 2009, electronic payments made up a vast majority of all noncash transactions, accounting for more than three-quarters of these purchases, a new report from the Federal Reserve Board said. This represented an increase of 9.6 percent over the previous study, conducted in 2007, when this type of transaction made up just two-thirds of all noncash payments.

The number of noncash payments has increased 4.6 percent per year between 2006 and 2009, only slightly higher than the 4.5 percent pace observed in the previous three-year period, the report said. Meanwhile, the value of these noncash payments declined 1.6 percent per year after growing 3.9 percent in each of the previous three.

"The results of the study clearly underscore this nation's efforts to move toward a more efficient electronic clearing system for all types of retail payments," said Richard Oliver, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. "It is also likely that the results reflect changing consumer behavior during difficult economic times."

All types of electronic payments made during the three-year period saw increases, with the exception of those involving credit card debt, the report noted. Meanwhile, debit card transactions increased to make up a larger share of the total of noncash transactions, largely replacing checks.

In all, debit card purchases made up 26 percent of noncash payments in 2006, but rose to 35 percent by 2009, the Fed reported. Meanwhile, the number of transactions involving credit card debt slipped from 23 percent to 20 percent.

Annual use of debit cards increased by over 12.8 billion payments, reaching a total of 37.9 billion in 2009, the report said. Additionally, transactions in which consumers took on credit card debt declined by 100 million to 21.6 billion in 2009.

Consumers have continued the trend of eschewing credit card debt in favor of other types of purchases into 2010. During this holiday season, less than one-fifth of consumers say they will rely mainly on credit to make their gift purchases, instead leaning on debit, cash and prepaid cards when out shopping.

The national recession caused a lot of fiscal problems for millions of people across the country, and even as the economy continues to recover, some are still being cautious about how they handle their money and their credit card debt. However, many are also optimistic that the country will be in better financial shape in 2011.

Consumers seem to be more optimistic about their financial futures, according to a new poll conducted by the Principal Financial Group. Of those polled, 40 percent of workers and 39 percent of retirees believe the economy in general will improve in some way over the next year. Further, both groups believe this recovery will be significant compared to what was observed by the end of the third quarter this year. In addition, the number of workers who said they were "extremely happy" about their current financial situation, including credit card debt, jumped to 31 percent from just 19 percent in the previous quarter.

"We are seeing some confidence return as Americans are starting to feel better about their finances and the economy, which is resulting in some positive behavior for long-term savings," said Luke Vandermillen, vice president of retirement and investor services at Principal Financial. While the road may still be bumpy, many Americans are taking personal responsibility to improve both their short and long term financial well-being."

When asked about their New Year's resolutions, 35 percent of workers said they would pay off more of their credit card debt in the coming year, the study found. Another 30 percent said they wanted to put more money into savings every month.

Among retirees, the most popular resolution was finding a way to better budget their money, and 17 percent want to reduce their total credit card debt, the report said. The third-most popular option was saving more money.

However, many consumers polled still expressed concern over their holiday budgets. Because of the economy, 41 percent of workers and 39 percent of retirees say they will spend less per gift this season. In addition, some will also travel less.

Many consumers have dealt with their credit card debt recently by both reducing the amount they spend on these accounts and increasing the total of their monthly payments.

When Google's Android OS 2.3 was announced it was reported that the platform would allow consumers to load their debit or credit information onto a phone so they could use them as a digital wallet. But the system only allows enabled phones to receive near-field communication signals, not send them, according to smartphone news site Android Police. This means that consumers will not be able to take on credit card debt with a swipe of their phone when making a purchase.

The first device optimized for OS 2.3, nicknamed Gingerbread, the Nexus S, was demonstrated to have NFC capabilities, but could not be made to send data, the report said. Consumers will have to wait at least until the next OS to take on credit card debt with their smartphone.

Many lenders and smartphone manufacturers have worked together in recent months to test system that let consumers take on credit card debt with their smartphones, but none are widely available yet.

Consumer credit climbed 1.7 percent in October because of increased efforts to acquire lines of nonrevolving credit, those for fixed amounts such as mortgages and car loans, despite another steep decline in the amount of nationwide credit card debt, according to the latest monthly statistics from the Federal Reserve Board. The amount of this type of loan increased 6.8 percent, climbing to just under $1.6 trillion – up from nearly $1.59 trillion in September.

Meanwhile, consumers cut revolving credit – most commonly associated with credit card debt – for the 26th month in a row, the report said. The total amount of outstanding balances fell to $800.5 billion from $806.1 billion in September, a decline of 8.4 percent.

Many consumers have become more wary of taking on credit card debt in the last two years as a result of financial fears stemming from the national recession.

American Express recently announced that its profits in the third quarter climbed by 71 percent over the previous three-month period thanks to customers increasing their credit card spending by 14 percent, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. This change came even as there were considerable concerns over the state of the economy, including the continued elevated levels of unemployment and a severely depressed housing market.

"I think you'd have to be in outer space to not be concerned," American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault said in a Goldman Sachs webcast, according to the news source. "That said, if I was just looking at us in a vacuum, I would feel very, very positive."

The newspaper noted that American Express likely saw profits climb because, unlike other lenders, it both issues credit cards and processes the transactions on them. In addition, it offers both charge cards – which need to be repaid every month – and the traditional accounts which allow consumers to carry a credit card debt balance from one moth to another. American Express likely saw more customers take on credit card debt in the last three months because its clientele tends to be more affluent than those of other lenders.

Furthermore, American Express said that, like most lenders, it had far fewer losses thanks to defaulted credit card debt, the report said. However, it's been struggling to convince consumers to open new accounts, although this too is an industry-wide problem. Through the end of October, the company's total outstanding loans totaled $48.9 billion.

A number of studies have shown that consumers have made a conscientious effort to reduce their credit card debt recently. This includes using their accounts less often and putting more of their discretionary income toward paying off the existing balances they carry. The most recent statistics from the Federal Reserve showed that consumers have decreased the total debt they owe on a national level considerably over the last few months as a result of these trends.

Offermatic, a California startup, is a free service for which consumers can sign up that will automatically find available rebates for any items purchased using a credit or debit card. The discount is then automatically applied to the checking account or credit card debt, meaning no coupons or proof of purchase is required, the company said.

Merchants can also benefit by receiving demographic information for what the program's users are purchasing, allowing them to more directly market their products to consumers, who in turn would take on credit card debt or use debit to make a purchase.

Many businesses, including lenders and retailers, are attempting to convince more consumers to take on credit card debt in a number of ways, including upping the rewards programs associated with their accounts.

In a lawsuit filed on December 6, Minnesota attorney general Lori Swanson said Discover Bank and its affiliated processing company made aggressive and misleading attempts to sign customers up for payment protection services that added to their credit card debt. Of particular note is that the company occasionally did so without the customers' knowledge or consent, and was able to do so because it already had access to their credit card information, according to a report from the New York Times.

Swanson said in a statement that the practice was ironic because it involved services that are supposed to protect consumers from having to deal with fraudulent credit card debt, the report noted.

Discover is another of several major handlers of credit card debt to be sued by a government agency in recent months. Visa, MasterCard and American Express were recently targeted by a Department of Justice suit over the transaction fees they charged to vendors.