Credit Cards

[haulingthescoreup]

My actual balance is probably even lower. I returned $300 worth of surplus flooring materials to Home Depot, and I had already PIF'd the AmEx, so I'm cruising on a big fat credit.

[busywoman]

Guess I shouldn't have "assumed" that it was meant to be posted balances.

After an entire work day of not assuming anything I couldn't resist.

[MidnightVoice]

Got some stats from MyFICO as well:

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/AverageStats.aspx

On average, today's consumer has a total of 13 credit obligations on record at a credit bureau. These include credit cards (such as department store charge cards, gas cards, or bank cards) and installment loans (auto loans, mortgage loans, student loans, etc.).............

On average, today's consumers are paying their bills on time. Less than half of all consumers have ever been reported as 30 or more days late on a payment. Only 3 out of 10 have ever been 60 or more days overdue.......................

About 40% of credit card holders carry a balance of less than $1,000. About 15% are far less conservative in their use of credit cards and have total card balances in excess of $10,000. When we look at the total of all credit obligations combined (except mortgage loans), 48% of consumers carry less than $5,000 of debt. This includes all credit cards, lines of credit, and loans-everything but mortgages. Nearly 37% carry more than $10,000 of non-mortgage-related debt as reported to the credit bureaus..........

The typical consumer has access to approximately $19,000 on all credit cards combined. More than half of all people with credit cards are using less than 30% of their total credit card limit. Just over 1 in 7 are using 80% or more of their credit card limit.

[haulingthescoreup]

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MidnightVoice wrote:
"When we look at the total of all credit obligations combined (except mortgage loans), 48% of consumers carry less than $5,000 of debt. This includes all credit cards, lines of credit, and loans-everything but mortgages. Nearly 37% carry more than $10,000 of non-mortgage-related debt as reported to the credit bureaus.........."

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So almost half of consumers don't have car loans or student loans with any meaningful balances left? That seems hard to believe, but I guess if we factor in people like my mother, who puts 2000 miles on her Saturn every year, and after the dealer begs her to trade it in, writes a check for the balance, I could see it.

Still a bit surprised, though, with the cost of vehicles and higher education these days. I wonder if it used to be higher before people started using HELOCs for non-home related expenses.

[MidnightVoice]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

Still a bit surprised, though, with the cost of vehicles and higher education these days. I wonder if it used to be higher before people started using HELOCs for non-home related expenses.

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The HELOCs have changed everything - and it is all part of the credit crunch!

But it might be shifting back in the case of cars - the dealers and manufacturers are so desperate that car loans are getting cheaper than mortgages!!

[concorduser]

Hi Noah, looks like different results from amex for different things. When I applied for Plum/Biz Gold I got similiar message like you got. When I apped for jetblue biz/blue I got the message, I have recovery product ( Oasis). But lot of others got both charge/credit card when they have oasis card. Looks like Amex is trying to adjust their policies and try to slow down customers a little, with out hurting their feelings. My suggestion is ask for plain old Delta Card which seems to have higher level of approval rate and see what they say. It is strange how their approval process is working. I got platinum even though I have Oasis card, but when I ask for Blue/Jetblue biz they say I have Oasis card. Confusing. If you are brave, app for Delta and see what they say. I bet a $ you would get that.

[concorduser]

Sorry, I think I posted the last message in this thread by mistake. There are too many elephant threads.