Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Another shoe to drop - Credit Card Debt

Bad credit-card debt could be next shot to economy, researcher says

By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:42 p.m. EDT Sept. 30, 2008

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Credit-card debt is on the brink of imploding and will be the next storm to hit the fragile finance industry, an investment research firm predicted this week.

According to Innovest StrategicValue Advisors, banks will charge off $18.6 billion in delinquent credit-card accounts in the first quarter of 2009 and $96 billion in all of 2009, more than double the research firm's forecast for all of this year.

Innovest projects that amount would be high enough to damage some of the biggest card issuers.

Credit-card charge-offs are "defying gravity" when compared with the problems in the mortgage market, according to Gregory Larkin, senior banking analyst for Innovest. But that will change as they catch up with mortgage charge-offs, which have spiked eightfold since the third quarter of 2007.

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