Credit-card issuers remained busy in March. Reuters, looking at Equifax data from March, reports what many of us already figured. There were fewer card offers being made (a lot less), issuers closed 20 million card accounts, and credit limits fell by some $425 billion.
From Reuters:In March, lenders closed 20 million card accounts, sending the total down by 58 million from a July 2008 peak to 380 million.
Equifax Inc's (EFX.N) March Credit Trends Report, drawn from 11 million credit profiles, was provided exclusively to Reuters.
4.7 percent of payments on bank-issued credit cards were at least 60 days late in March, an increase of 38.3 percent over last March.
The number of credit cards from banks issued in January and February 2009 fell 38 percent from the same period in 2008. Equifax obtains this data after a one-month lag.
Credit limits continued to fall as well, by $425 billion from a July peak of $3.59 trillion to $3.16 trillion in March.
In addition to the factbox published by Reuters, you can also read the companion story that goes with the credit-card data. Read it here.
Reuters also tallied up the most recent homeowner information as well. You can read it here.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Equifax Consumer Credit Trends For March
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7 comments:
This post has been up since this morning and not a single comment? The credit card market deflates by 10% an no one notices?
Haha. I figured that we've all become all too accustomed to what's happening. I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
Just another trillion or more to go.....
Is the falling of credit limits really mean that a lot of people are getting screwed when their credit limit is lower for no good? I talked to someone today who had a big name national credit card. Her credit limit was lowered to just above what she owed which means her credit score probably went down also. She paid off her bill and closed her account.
Sharon, the card issuer likely would have "chased" her balance too. Nice that she could pay it off.
She did exactly what they hoped she would do....
Indeed, Carnap. Indeed.
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