:-)
Instant confetti.
"Consumer borrowing rises after 11 declines; Could signal increase in confidence" by Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press | March 6, 2010
WASHINGTON - Consumer borrowing broke a record stretch of declines with a small increase in January as a boost in auto loans offset continued weakness in credit card borrowing.
The small gain, the first in nearly a year, could be a signal that Americans are regaining confidence in the economy. The Federal Reserve reported yesterday....
That is where I stopped reading it and grabbed a salt shaker.
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So what did happen to the trillions in loan liquidity?
Balanced the books and led to billions in bonuses and profits.
"Credit card debt fell because of write-offs" by Candice Choi, Associated Press | March 11, 2010
NEW YORK — With unemployment high and personal wealth diminished, how was it that strapped consumers were paying down their credit card debt last year? It turns out they probably weren’t.
Good.
The bulk of 2009’s drop in credit card debt instead came because banks were forced to write off loans consumers failed to pay, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data.
Hey, that is what everyone else has to do.
Loans are typically charged off by banks once they’re 180 days past due, under the assumption they won’t be repaid. In 2009, banks wrote off a record $83.27 billion in credit card debt. A study by consumer credit research site CardHub.com found that accounts for the bulk of the of $93.2 billion drop in consumer card balances reported by the Fed for last year.
“If you just look at the numbers, you think, ‘Oh my goodness, there was a big decrease in credit card debt,’ ’’ said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO and founder of CardHub.com.
But
I was waiting.
Papadimitriou said it didn’t add up that consumers could make such a big dent in debt while under the financial pressure they faced last year. The Federal Reserve’s reports on outstanding consumer loans don’t tease out the amount charged off by banks. By that measure, credit card borrowing fell for 16 straight months through January, suggesting consumers have been chipping away at balances and spending less. When you consider how much banks are being forced to forsake in bad loans, however, consumers’ ability to pay off balances doesn’t appear as rosy.
Yeah, YOU STIFFED the BANKS, you damn unemployed, foreclosed-upon American!
That's what I came away with there. I mean, the credit cards were just trying to help you by writing off your debt -- and here you go and do a thing like this to them!
You ungratefuls!
It's not like they were given tons and tons of tax loot to cover the losses when they should have been loaning it back to you at interest (after having borrowed it from the same banks at interest to give back to banks so they could loan it to you at in... ter... e....
Hey, wait a minute. They got taxpayer money, right?
The only time consumers truly paid down their debt was in the first quarter of last year, the CardHub.com study finds....
What slackers, huh?
After that, card balances either remained steady or rose....
Not on mine. I never even get applications anymore. They know.
Gail Cunningham, of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, said she’s not surprised if consumers are still leaning on credit cards, especially given the high unemployment rate.
Still, she said she’s noticing significant belt tightening.
“People have made a conscious decision to rein in their spending,’’ Cunningham said.
Yeah, and they do NOT WANT TO PUT it on the USURIOUS THIEVERY of PLASTIC!!!!
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And ONCE AGAIN it is BUYER BEWARE in AmeriKa -- the greatest economy ever invented (or so I have been told my whole life).
"Bogus services for paying debts grow; Lack of laws cultivates fraud" by Ylan Q. Mui, Washington Post | March 30, 2010
WASHINGTON —“It’s a sign of the times. . . . People found themselves in deeper and deeper debt,’’ said Marceline White, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition. “As they were trying to dig out, these firms rose up.’’
All right, everyone knows what crooks Goldman Sachs is; however, they mean the natural and other disasters combined with the never-ending, mass-murdering wars, right?
Debt-settlement companies cater to those who got caught up in the era of easy credit only to find themselves overwhelmed.
But the television advertisement and mailing made it all seem so glamorous and easy.
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WASHINGTON — Consumer credit declined in February more than anticipated, indicating Americans are reluctant to take on more debt without further improvement in the labor market.
Or UNABLE to, but who wants to quibble anymore?
Ummm, are they ever going to get anything right because I'm losing the faith here a little bit when they tell me something.
Borrowing fell $11.5 billion, the most in three months, after a revised $10.6 billion January gain that was twice as much as initially estimated, the Federal Reserve said yesterday in Washington.
Stills seems like too much borrowing to me.
The decline in the February measure of credit card debt and nonrevolving loans was worse than the lowest estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 34 economists. The drop was the 12th in 13 months and shows consumer purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, will be limited until households become more optimistic about the recovery. Confidence to finance spending may be restored if employment keeps rising after a March payroll gain that was the biggest in three years.
“I don’t think we’re going to have the credit-fueled spending we had in the past,’’ said Gary Thayer, chief macro strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors LLC in St. Louis. “A lot of consumers are deleveraging. They see excess borrowing as threatening.’’
Oh, America, I am SO, SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!
Auto sales in the United States slowed in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10.36 million from 10.8 million a month earlier, according to industry statistics. Snow in the eastern United States hurt car dealerships and other businesses in cities including Washington and Philadelphia....
There they go blaming the weather again!
What's it going to be next week? Stuck in the mail?
Consumer spending rose in February for a fifth straight month, Commerce Department figures showed. Purchases increased 0.3 percent, while incomes were unchanged, reflecting slow job creation....
Whose figures showed? (Pass that salt there, please, reader).
As the economy and labor market improves, fewer Americans are falling behind in their credit card payments. Five of the six biggest credit card lenders, led by Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said late payments fell or held steady in February as the industry recovered from record losses.
Gee, how did they recover so fast?
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