Word: credit-card
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...status and convenience in two breezy words: Charge it. But in these leaner times, shoppers are thinking twice before pulling out the plastic, even as analysts predict credit-card defaults could total more than $75 billion this year. On April 23, Barack Obama and his economic adviser Lawrence Summers met with credit-card executives to discuss how to control our addiction to plastic--and curb the controversial practices that encourage...
...While mortgage losses show faint signs of moderating, banks still have a lot of credit-card ugliness to work through. At JPMorgan Chase, card services was by far the worst-performing division, with a loss of $547 million. When Whitney asked CEO Jamie Dimon if the business would return to profitability this year, his answer was a succinct "No." At Citi, "credit-card losses seem to be breaking their historical correlation with unemployment," CFO Kelly said. That is, credit-card losses normally rise with the unemployment rate. Now they're rising faster...
Recording my expenses in a journal kicked things to a whole new level. I always thought I was fairly responsible with money. I don't have credit-card debt, I put a decent slug of my salary into my 401(k), and even though I spend a ridiculous percentage of my paycheck on housing - I do live in New York City - it's just a one-room apartment. I dropped my laptop and broke the screen a year ago; it still works, so I haven't replaced it. Helpful hint No. 2: ThinkPads are only slightly less rugged than soccer...
...second whammy on Target's performance is its credit business. Target is one of the last major retailers to own a part of its credit-card portfolio. When consumers are drowning in mortgage and other credit-card debt, they often ignore retail-card obligations. Rising defaults and delinquencies have dragged earnings. In 2008 credit-card profits dropped 80.5%, to $155 million, and the company incurred a $135 million pre-tax loss on its credit segment in the fourth quarter. "The company did great with its credit business when the economy was up, but now that it's down, carrying your...
...buyers will not get access to those low-cost government loans. Plus, these days, few investors are willing to take more risk than they have to. With no one to sell the lower-quality stuff to, banks may be stuck holding it. The good news is that so far, credit-card and auto loans have not had the same high rates of default as home loans. But as the economic downturn worsens, analysts say it will become harder and harder for consumers to make even the minimum payments on credit-card debts that have racked up over years of overspending...