2021 Consumer Credit Card Market Report

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION | SEPTEMBER 2021

The Consumer Credit Card Market

Message from the Acting Director

Credit cards are one of the most commonly-held and widelyused financial products in America -- over 175 million Americans hold at least one credit card. During the COVID-19 pandemic, credit cards played a vital role as both a source of credit in emergencies and a payment method as more transactions occurred online.

As the fifth biennial report to Congress on the credit card market, this report details how swift actions by both the public and private sectors likely impacted how many consumers used their credit cards and managed their debts during the pandemic. To address hardships caused by COVID-19, the Federal government provided consumers direct relief by issuing a series of economic impact payments, providing enhanced unemployment benefits, suspending student loan payments and interest accrual for federally held loans, offering mortgage forbearance, and enacting a moratorium on evictions. At the same time, credit card issuers provided voluntary relief to consumers by offering payment deferral and fee waivers.

Supported by these efforts, this report finds that the decline in credit card debt during the pandemic was unprecedented in speed and magnitude. Measures of consumer stress, such as late payment incidence and the share of accounts delinquent, hit record lows.

This report also highlights areas in the credit card market that may entail risks for consumers such as system deficiencies related to implementing relief programs and automatic payment processes. The Bureau continues to monitor indicators of credit card use, cost, and availability to identify potential for consumer harm, as well as study the impact of new, innovative products.

Our credit card market report is intended to present the latest research on this vital market to consumers, issuers, and policymakers. As many consumers, particularly those with non-prime credit scores, still face numerous hardships due to COVID-19, this report remains critical. The Bureau will carry out its mission in ensuring this market continues to benefit all participants during these times of heightened uncertainty.

1

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION -- CONSUMER CREDIT CARD MARKET REPORT

Sincerely, David Uejio

2

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION -- CONSUMER CREDIT CARD MARKET REPORT

Table of contents

Message from the Acting Director .................................................................................1

Table of contents ..............................................................................................................3

Executive summary ..........................................................................................................5

1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................13 1.1 Review mandate........................................................................................13 1.2 Report scope............................................................................................. 14 1.3 Methodology..............................................................................................15

2. Use of credit .............................................................................................................25 2.1 Product prevalence .................................................................................. 25 2.2 Debt levels ................................................................................................27 2.3 Purchase volume .......................................................................................31 2.4 Repayment ...............................................................................................33 2.5 Delinquency.............................................................................................. 41 2.6 Charge-off.................................................................................................44

3. Cost of credit ............................................................................................................46 3.1 Total cost of credit....................................................................................46 3.2 Interest charged.......................................................................................48 3.3 Fees assessed............................................................................................52

4. Availability of credit ................................................................................................61 4.1 New accounts ........................................................................................... 61 4.2 Existing accounts ..................................................................................... 77

3

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION -- CONSUMER CREDIT CARD MARKET REPORT

5. Practices of credit card issuers ............................................................................86 5.1 Rewards....................................................................................................87 5.2 Deferred interest...................................................................................... 91 5.3 Balance transfers.................................................................................... 100 5.4 Cash advances ........................................................................................ 104 5.5 COVID-19 response................................................................................ 108 5.6 Card agreements ..................................................................................... 121

6. Credit card debt collection ...................................................................................127 6.1 Debt collection markets ..........................................................................127 6.2 Collections prior to charge-off................................................................ 131 6.3 Recovery following charge-off............................................................... 144 6.4 Litigation .................................................................................................153 6.5 Credit card debt collection during COVID-19........................................155

7. Innovation ...............................................................................................................158 7.1 Product innovation ................................................................................ 158 7.2 Consumer adoption of innovative technologies ................................... 169

Appendix A: Supporting figures ............................................................................177

4

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION -- CONSUMER CREDIT CARD MARKET REPORT

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download