February 16, 2007

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  NEWS: The New Facts About American Credit

  In today's society, credit card acceptance has become ubiquitous in day-to-day life. Armed with just your plastic, you can buy food and eat out, make small drugstore purchases without even signing, charge your medical bills or tuition, and even tithe at certain places of worship! What does this omnipresence really mean, when broken down to numbers are figures? Here's some facts that may astound you:

   

  • The average U.S. citizen holds seven credit cards.
  • Three-quarters of all students have at least four credit cards.
  • An estimated 70% of credit cards offer rewards in some format. These programs are designed to woo new cardholders, and to encourage those holding cards to use them as often as possible, even for small amounts. Hence, the rise of the less-than-a-dollar credit card purchase!
  • Only half of all credit card holders pay the minimum monthly balance on their cards – a big problem!
  • Those consumers who do pay off their balances in full each month (a very good thing) may soon be penalized – some issuers are looking at charging a fee to these cardholders.
  • Last year, Americans paid over $50 billion in total finance charges on all their plastic.
  • McDonalds was one of the last fast food eateries to start accepting credit cards as payment. In the first two years of accepting cards, credit card transactions made up about 13% of the total.
  • Up to 85% of transactions at private merchants (one location only) are on credit cards.

  
  
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