December 1, 2008: Analyst Forecasts Financial Industry May Cut $2 Trillion in Credit Card Lines

The financial industry may cut as much as $2 trillion in credit card account lines over the next 18 months, according to Oppenheimer & Co analyst Meredith Whitney. This is in an effort to reduce damage risks from increasing customer delinquencies and defaults. “[W]e expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent,” she adds. According to Whitney, all three remaining major banks—Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase—are planning or considering reducing credit lines across the board. Credit cards are the second source of liquidity available to consumers, behind wages from work. She criticizes the banking industry for offering ever fewer choices at a time when consumers need credit more than ever: “Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view.” [Consumer Affairs.com, 12/1/2008; Reuters, 12/1/2008]