631 Million Credit Cards for 113 Million Households – Credit Card Excess Contracting for First Time in 40 Years. How Plastic Hid Middle Class Financial Decay.
It is estimated that in 2010 we will have 181 million Americans carrying credit cards. Now this is interesting given that Census data from 2008 only shows 113 million households. The credit card is ubiquitous flowing through our economy like a river of easy money. Yet credit cards have become a major pitfall for many […]
Credit Card Companies Placing Financial Landmines for American Consumers: How I lost my 4.99 Percent Fixed Rate and got it Back.
Americans have a love affair with credit cards. Many Americans have more credit cards in their wallets than they do dollar bills. When 8,000,000 credit cards were yanked from circulation many consumers realized that this was a new era of austerity. Credit card debt otherwise known as revolving debt, peaked in September of 2008 at […]
The New American Austerity: Getting By with Less Debt and Less Money. In What Sectors are Americans Spending Less Money?
The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that for the month of April retail sales came in at $337 billion, a decrease of 0.4 percent from the month before. The market reacted to this news and headed lower. If we pry into the data beyond the headline number, we will see that retail sales are actually […]
Credit card companies shut down 8 million credit card accounts in February while accepting more Bailout Credit Cards from the U.S. Treasury. 400 Million Credit Card Accounts still open.
Many American households have been strapped for money for many years. The benefit of having a debt bubble is the ability to cover up troubling economic trends and drown out any noise while people feed at the bubble. During this time, credit was easily accessible and many families used credit cards as a bridge loan […]