Credit demand is still insatiable. Much of the western world now borrows increasingly on credit cards and this is set to continue.
But what if you wanted to wean yourself off easily available credit. What would you do?
Here are some ideas:
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Posted by Peter Brady on Thu 28th June 2007 at 08:26 AM, Filed in Credit News
A new survey down under suggests that a little over half of Australians would be almost paralysed without their credit cards.
According to The Citibank Payment Evolution Report, a survey of consumers in seven countries in the Asia-Pacific, found Australians were more credit card dependent than consumers in most major Asian economies.
This growing dependency on plastic seems to mirror a steep decline in cash across the western world.
Interestingly the report noted that:
“Australians were opposed to allowing credit cards to be used as personal identification, or as a way of paying off tax bills. Australians also had the least number of credit cards per person.”
The survey was taken from respondents in China, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
China topped the poll with 70% saying they would be lost without their credit cards.
(Via Geelong Advertiser)
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch in life.” How true and this certainly applies in the field of reward schemes.
The plethora of schemes on offer include money back on company gas cards, air miles on airline cards and product discounts on retail cards. All sounds great, but beware the small print.
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Credit card cool really is important to consumers according to a survey produced by Fool.co.uk.
Brand and reputation were found to outweigh almost all other considerations when customers select credit cards.
According to the survey:
“Eight out of ten credit card users say the brand and reputation of credit cards are more important than other factors such as balance transfer fees and long balance-transfer periods.”
Which is particularly surprising in an environment of rising UK interest rates.
“However, the importance of other issues rises to the fore when similar credit cards are compared. Measured against four leading credit cards, Barclaycard, with a typical APR of 14.9% and a 13-month 0% balance transfer period, fared best - nine out of ten customers said they are satisfied. It is a hair’s breadth ahead of Egg, MBNA and Halifax, which have slightly more expensive borrowing costs and marginally higher balance-transfer fees.”
David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk says, “According to Fool.co.uk readers, Barclaycard is still on top some 41 years after launching the first credit card in the UK. Today, the industry boasts more than 66 million credit cards, and accounts for almost £150 billion of transactions a year.”
(Via EasierFinance)
Posted by Tom Wilkins on Fri 22nd June 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Credit News
It seems that the credit card boom is not exclusive to the western world.
Recent UK based research suggests that consumer debt in the Gulf Arab states is set to rise by an alarming 60% by next year. The spurt is a result of growing private consumption and strong growth in the region’s credit card market.
According to the Lafferty Group:
“Credit cards were the fastest growing component of outstanding consumer debt last year in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the five Gulf Arab oil exporters.
Total credit card dues in the five countries grew to $5.25 billion at end-2006, up 43 % from a year earlier, Lafferty said in a statement. Around $2 billion of that was borrowed in the UAE.”
(Via Arab Business)
