Quote of the Month:
"New
statistics from Trans Union’s TrenData database indicate that new
account openings of all types slowed markedly by the end of 1999 and
continued dropping through the first quarter of this year. "
| Forecasts & Statistics |
| Product Trends |
| Industry Trends |
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| Sharp Slowdown In New Account Openings |
| Last month we reported that response rates on credit card solicitations during 1999 reached a record low. New statistics from Trans Union’s TrenData database indicate that new account openings of all types slowed markedly by the end of 1999 and continued dropping through the first quarter of this year. |
| Financial Literacy Is Declining Among High School Seniors |
| Each year America’s high schools graduate millions of young adults who are unprepared to make important financial decisions affecting their lives. Compounding matters, our society is becoming more financially complex, offering a variety of choices and options that can be confusing to the uninformed. |
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| Credit Card Results |
| Robert B. McKinley has summarized the credit card charge volume in the U.S. of the four major credit card issuers for the past four years in the recent issue of CardTrak. |
| Motor Vehicle Loans and Leases of Finance Companies |
| The Federal Reserve gathers data on motor vehicle loans and leases from independent finance companies and finance company subsidiaries of bank holding companies, but not from retailers and banks. |
| Home Equity Credit Cards |
| Recall that under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Congress removed the tax deductibility of interest paid on consumer loans except for loans secured by a primary residence. A stated objective was to discourage the use of “high priced and dangerous” credit card debt and to encourage home ownership. |
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| Demographic Trends, Part One: Age Distribution |
| As consumers age- and we do- their spending patterns change, and as their expenditure patterns change, so does their use of credit. A recent article in American Demographics traces the anticipated changes in the age distribution in the U.S. from 1997 to 2002. |
| Demographic Trends, Part Two: Geographic Distribution |
| Customers that move create problems and opportunities. One the one hand, movement of credit customers requires tracing them to their new address. On the other hand, consumers moving into your territory offer opportunities for new business and new employees. |
| Online Financial Services |
| GE Capital Corporation has joined with CompuBank, an Internet bank, to provide a financial supermarket on the Internet. The site may be reached at www.gefn.com. Presently, the site offers access only to checking and savings accounts and bill-paying facilities. |
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| Credit Reporting Litigation |
| The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) establishes a “permissible purpose” for providing credit reports to third parties. These permissible purposes include: (1) the extension of credit; (2) employment purposes; (3) underwriting of insurance; (4) determination of license eligibility; (5) risk assessment for an existing credit obligation; and (6) legitimate business need for the information. |
| Subprime Mortgage Loans Attacked |
| The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released a study purporting to show predatory lending to minority and low-income borrowers. |