April 15, 2010
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News: Americans Not As Trusting As Other Nations
While reports indicate that Americans continue to reduce credit card debt, Australia, New Zealand, and UK citizens are pushing up card and loan debt. According to the latest report from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country's credit card spending in February increased to $18.22 billion up from $17.18 billion the previous month. The credit balances carried forward increased by 2.1 percent to $47.1 billion up from $46.2 billion the previous month. Australians have an average credit card balance of $3250 for the month of February up from $3189 the previous month. Although Australians have increased spending, they have decreased the amount of repayment which fell by 4.7 percent in February.
New Zealand reports that credit card spending for the country increased in March by 1.2 percent in February. The report indicates the increase was the largest monthly increase since November 2007. Categories with the highest increases included fuel, furniture, hardware, and appliances. Food, liquor, and pharmacy also experienced an increase, however, the service industries were down slightly by 0.2 percent including the travel industry, healthcare, and wholesale businesses.
The United Kingdom (UK) also reported a modest increase in credit card spending by nearly 10 percent during the past 12months. Barclaycard Retail Card the UK's premier card issuer, reported a 9.2 percent increase for March compared to the same time period a year ago and up from 7.1 percent in February. Online use of card spending had a significant increase in March up 18 percent from February.
The increased credit card spending is good news for the economies of each of the three countries. While it demonstrates a slight increase in consumer confidence and benefits the country's overall economy, consumers should proceed with caution to avoid landing themselves back into debt. Americans, on the other hand, are not willing to trust lenders and continued to reduce debt at measurable numbers. Experts say with the tax return deadline here, America may begin to see some increases in spending within the next two months.