Less junk mail: the upside of the credit crunch
Grisly news today from the Federal Reserve's July survey of senior bank loan officers. Loan-writing standards are tighter across the board, but especially for prime mortgages (74% of banks reported tighter standards, compared to 62% in the April survey), and credit card loans (67% of banks reported tighter standards, compared to 32% in the April survey).
The good news about how this plays out comes from the market research firm Synovate, which had a press release of its own today. During the second quarter, the number of credit-card offers received by U.S. households were down 17% from the same period a year ago. That's only 1.06 billion pieces of junk mail, compared to the 1.27 billion we saw last year. HSBC, which used to really like subprime customers, cut back the most, down 54%. Citibank's volume was down 45%—to its lowest point in more than 10 years.
Barbara!
-
1
So these companies come up with slick ads and promises; consumers fall for them; the U.S. economy suffers due to people's lack of fiscal responsibly (and trusting these ads); so these same companies scale back their marketing efforts. What a mess. I hope in the future marketing efforts from financial institutions are required to have more clear language and really spell out what these people are signing up for, and I also hope people realize easy credit is not really a good thing.
-
2
Just another curious note. Why does Barbara always sign it with Barbara !....
Justin come back, your blog is going through a Yahoo style takeover
-
3
Glad to see you're a curious capitalist, too, Ajay_O. As I explained long ago, I sign my name so that when people get their morning emails with our posts they know it's me writing and not Justin. I initially included the exclamation point to be self-mocking. Now I do it to annoy a reader named Malcolm. Malcolm!
-
4
There's much more upside that this! If it wasn't for the Credit crunch we wouldn'd have a euphemism for recession - Nor would we have coined 'Credit Squeeze' or allowed supermarkets to make offers so good that they "Price Crunch!"
-
5
[...] Synovate, a firm that tracks credit-card mail volume, today released its third-quarter figures. Not surprisingly, folks are getting a lot fewer offers in their mailboxes these days: 940 million pitches went out [...]
- TIME The road to World Cup glory | http://su.pr/4BIr6L - 10 hours ago
- TIME Twitter App Showdown: Echofon Pro vs Tweetie 2. There can be only one. (via @techland) | http://su.pr/2NRR4C - 12 hours ago
- TIME The National Zoo's panda is leaving. See pictures here | http://su.pr/1wUNuY - 13 hours ago
Most Popular »
- Tennessee Mayor Accuses Barack Obama Of Hating On Charlie Brown, Peanuts
- Wii Fit Plus Review
- Obama Shifts Date of Copenhagen Visit
- NV Sen Poll: Reid In Trouble
- The PlayStation Turns 15, We Reminisce
- 'Forgotten Man' II: Two-Thirds of Jobless Blue-Collar
- 135 Money-Saving Resources and Tips, Special Holiday Season Edition
- False Economy: Think You're Saving Money? Think Again
- Twitter App Showdown: Echofon Pro vs Tweetie 2
- Loving The Joke
- How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?
- Will Federal Spending Mistrust Mean the End of Obama's Audacity
- Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy
- Nicolas Sarkozy: A French Paradox
- India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan
- Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It
- Amanda Knox Testifies: The Murder Trial That Has Gripped Italy
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting
- Astronomers Spot Planet-Like Object GJ 758 B in Orbit
- Foxy Knoxy Case Still Roils Italy
Quotes of the Day »
RSS