Largest Drop in Card Balance Payments Ever

According to CardTrak.com credit card balance payments saw their largest drop ever, from October to November.  (Guess December's data hasn't arrived yet...)

CardTrak.com - News - Wallet Squeeze

The amount that consumers pay on their monthly credit card balances dropped like a rock in November to a record low. Generally cardholders, including those who pay the minimum due and those who pay the full balance off each month, pay on average, about 18% to 20% of their monthly outstanding balances.

During October cardholders paid 18.42% of their balances which collapsed to 15.96% in November,
Clearly, the credit squeeze that began in mid-Septembertrickled down much faster than expected. The impact of job losses cannot be understated. In December, the number of unemployed persons increasedby 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2%. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployedpersons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by2.3 percentage points.

PAYMENTS
June 08:     19.54%
July 08:       19.54%
August 08:  19.21%
Sept. 08:     18.57%
Oct 08         18.42%
Nov 08:       15.96%

Source: CardWeb.com

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