According to WalletHub, the average credit card rate for new offers is now over 21%. Store Card rates are trending even higher, with some as high as 30%! Yet, after paying down credit cards during the worst of COVID, consumers…
Category: Consumer Debt
Control Your Debt Before It Controls You
As we watch with contentment as CD rates continue to rise, we know there is also an unmistakable down-side to the Federal Reserve’s persistent rate increases. If it hasn’t already, it will soon be making its debut in a wallet…
U.S. Consumers May be Nearing a Tipping Point
Coral Gables, Florida, September 21, 2022: BauerFinancial, Inc., the nation’s premier Bank and Credit Union rating firm, sheds light on the fact that early-stage consumer delinquencies are beginning to head up. While the more severe delinquent loans are holding at…
The (Mortgage Refinancing) Party is Over
With a 1.5% increase in short-term interest rates in a three month period, the mortgage refinancing party is effectively over. Yet, total household debt (including mortgage loans) increased by $266 billion in the first quarter 2022. Balances, now at $15.84…
Can Consumer Loans Withstand Rate Rises?
We had hoped to have credit union data and star-ratings available this week, but the NCUA made so many changes to the reporting this quarter, the data didn’t come out until Tuesday (June 7th). So while our analysts comb over…
What Constitutes an Unconscionable Interest Rate?
After last week’s article on banks with high service fee income, we wanted to take a look at how some other banks make their money. Particularly after mentioning that Capital One is a credit card bank, we wanted to see…
Credit Card Debt Lessens as Quality Improves
It’s nice to have something positive to report. U.S. banks have been reporting a steep decline in credit card usage since the end of 2019 (see below). Not only that, but as you will see, the quality of those credit…
Loan Balances Grow for 1st Time Since Last June
After a year of belt-tightening, loan balances at our nation’s banks grew slightly ($33.2 billion or 0.3%) during the second quarter of 2021. In spite of banks’ eagerness to lend, loan balances remain well below (1.2%) the levels of the…
Consumer Loan Growth Bucks Trend at Some Banks
During the last nine months of 2020, many Americans took advantage of government stimulus and forbearance on mortgage loans to pay down (or off) personal debt. As a result, from March 31, 2020 to March 31, 2021 the banking industry…
Cautious Consumers Cut Credit Card Consumption
Since the pandemic began, not only are Americans cutting back on new credit card purchases, many consumers have been working to lower their balances. At the end of 2019, credit card balances at U.S. banks stood at over $941 billion.…