66,163,000 credit cards in UK – Highest in Europe

There are 66,163,000 credit cards in UK as at 31st December 2008, making UK the nation with highest number of credit cards in Europe; even though there is a decrease of 1,148,000 cards or 1.71% compares to 67,311,000 cards in 2007.

Lastest figure available(as of 31st October 2009) shown the number of credit cards in UK has decreased to 61,561,243.

Nonetheless, the number of credit cards in UK is still leading other nations in Europe by leaps and bounds; with 34,005,040 credit cards in France as at 31st December 2008, ranking second in Europe.

In 2008, credit cards in UK recorded 1.791 billion transactions with a total value of €143.36 billions.

Interestingly, even though there is 6.25% increase in the number of debit cards issued in UK, and contribute directly to 6.88% increase in the number of debit cards transactions, the transations value for debit cards has decreased by 6.48% to €342.53 billions in 2008.

Go here for more updates, news and statistics on UK credit cards.

€5.88 billions credit card usage by Norwegian

There are 10,629,000 payment cards(credit cards and debit cards) issued in Norway as at 31st December 2008. This translate into 2.25 cards per capita in Norway, only second to United Kingdom 2.44 cards per capita in Europe.

There are 4,338,000 credit cards in Norway as at 31st December 2008, recording 56.50 million transactions with a total value of €5.88 billions during the period.

Interestingly, even though the number of credit cards in Norway increased by about 1% in 2008, the number of transactions and the total value showing a growth rate of about 15%.

Go here for more info on norge kredittkort, where you can find latest update, news ans statistics on payment cards in Norway.

CAD$407,729,739 Loss in Canadian Credit Card Fraud for 2008

For the year ending December 2008, CAD$407,729,739 loss to credit card fraud has been reported in Canada, involving 450,322 Canadian issued cards. This is an average loss of CAD$905.42 per account.

Counterfeit cards is the main culprit in terms of dollar volume with CAD$196,653,970 loss involving 158,503 accounts.

Whereas fraudulent e-commerce, telephone and mail purchases has reported the highest numbers of cases, involving 210,430 accounts with CAD$128,362,477 loss in value… more interesting facts on Canada credit cards fraud statistics can be found here

The US Credit Card Issuers Adopting Relationship Banking

Looking for better rewards or offers on your credit card? Then look no further than the bank where your checking account exist.

Relationship banking has been practised in Germany for years when it comes to credit card. Know as Girokonto Kreditkarte, a free credit card is attached when you open a bank account.

At times, a rewards program is attached such as one found in DKB Visa Cash Card. Instead of creating their own rewards program, the issuer prefers to work with established rewards program, card4you which has over 7,000 existing partners.

Such trend is nothing new and has been adopted worldwide. In Asia, the credit card issuers have a tendency to offer credit card to their existing bank account holders. In Australia, a more favorable credit card offers is extended to their existing customer.

Finally, major banks in US are learning the rope themselves. Those with checking account at the bank are likely to find better credit-card deals now.

Under Chase Card Services’ Chase Exclusives program, for example, Chase Freedom cardholders who also have checking accounts at the bank can earn up to 10% more points on their spending.

The bank also rolled out a new credit card, “Slate From Chase,” that automatically refunds the 12th month’s interest charges each year if customers enroll in the bank’s AutoPay program from a Chase checking account.

On the other hands, Citi with a presence worldwide, is offering some customers an additional 2% cash-back bonus on qualified spending on Citi credit cards if customers also have a banking relationship at the company.

Moving forward, relationship banking will be the backbone of credit cards, especially those with bank accounts in the bank.

First, those with bank accounts means they have the money to spend and ability to pay for their credit usage. This is increasingly important factor as the unemployment threat no longer makes the credit ratings/scores accurate.

The creditworthiness based on credit history is now obsolete; thus a new, safer method to gauge a person credit is required. So what is clever way than knowing your prospect has money in your bank?

Australia credit cards competition heating up

Unlike their counterparts in US or UK, the credit cards issuers in Australia is busy competing in the Australia low interest credit cards market.

The sparks in low interest credit cards in Australia is led by Aussie MasterCard which launched the “9.99%p.a. on purchases for the first 12 months” and “4.99% p.a. on balance transfers for first 12 months” offers. This is followed by ANZ Low Rate MasterCard with a “low interest rate of 4.9% p.a. on purchases or the first 12 months” deals.

BankWest who is the leader in low interest rate credit card segment, finally responded with “Australia’s lowest MasterCard purchase rate
and longest balance transfer offer” on 29th June.

With savvy marketing copy such as “if your current credit card is with one of the big four banks, then you’re probably paying too much”, it is about time BankWest have to respond accordingly to maintain their position.

Instead of offering a low rate on purchases for 12 months, BankWest decided to go to the extreme by offering 9.99%p.a. with no specific time limit. And the “4.99% p.a. on Balance Transfers for 15 months” is by far the longest you can get, exceeding the norm of 6 to 12 months balance transfer offers in the Australia market.

This “low rate war” is not surprising since 70% of Australians want a lower rate on their credit card. Unfortunately, this healthy competition may not happened in US or UK in the near term.

Such scene is something new and refreshing, a good news to the consumer considering the current economy woes and financial instability.

Perhaps this shown the banking system down under is more solid than those in US and UK. As well as the willingness to compete wisely for a win-win situation.

Financial Mismanagement Main Reason for Credit Card Debt

With the recent 26-year high U.S. jobless rate of 9.4% in May 2009, it is easy to blame job loss as the main culprit for increasing credit card debt.

However, according to nonprofit NFCC(National Foundation for Credit Counseling) which helping financially desperate consumers, financial mismanagement is the main cause of financial distress. And job losses came in only second.

The number of people seeking help increase double-fold from 1.5 million in 2006 to 3.2 million in 2008.

What is more disturbing is people who seek counselling with NFCC had six credit cards with unsecured debt totaling 62% of their total household income. Be reminded that this debt is strictly credit card debt, not taking into account of their house or vehicle loan.

U.S. Credit Cards Charge-off Rate Rise in May

Capital One said the annualized net charge-off rate for U.S. credit cards, debts the company believes it will never collect, rose to 9.41 percent in May from 8.56 percent in April.

This trend is followed by every other major credit card issuers in US, which are reporting high and rising default rate.

This is lead by Bank of America reporting high charge-off rate of 12.50% in May, follow by American Express 10.4% charge-off in the same period.

Meanwhile, Citigroup the largest issuer of MasterCard branded credit cards reported charge-off rate of 10.50% in May. For record, Discover charge-off rate increased to 8.91% in the same period.

The spike in credit cards default in US is inline with the recent announced U.S. jobless rate in May, which rose to a 26-year record high of 9.4%.

The delinquency rates, an indicator of future credit losses, fell across the industry though. However, the delinquency rates is expected to rise in coming months. Analysts believe the decline was due to a seasonal trend, as consumers used tax refunds to pay their debts.

Debit Card Purchases in Australia increased by 17.52%

For the 12 months period(January 2008 to December 2008), the total purchases made using debit cards in Australia has increased by a whopping 17.52%(A$16.17 billion) if compares to the same period in 2007.

This is a significant growth taking into the fact that the number of debit card users has only increased by 5.03% or 1,385,653 in the same period.

For detailed statistics such as the total number of debit card users, the total debit card transactions(cash-out as well as purchases), the total ATM cash withdrawals made using debit cards, etc., visit the site, Australia debit cards online application.

Canadian Total Credit Card Outstanding Balances increased by 10.07%

Facts about Canada credit cards based on statistics released by the Bank of Canada.

The total credit card outstanding balances as at December 2007 is CAD$48.505 billion, compares to CAD$53.390 billion as at December 2008. This figures indicate an increase of 10.07% in the 12 months period.

Surprisingly, the outstanding amount is reduced to CAD$51.611 billion as at February 2009, a decreased of 3.33%.

As of Q3 2008, the statistic shows residents in Ontario made up 45.46% of the outstanding credit card balances in Canada.

Click here for interesting statistics on Canadian credit cards including detailed outstanding credit card balances breakdown by province.

Singaporeans Credit Card Selection Criteria and Payment Habit

Survey shown when it comes to credit card selection for Singaporeans, the following criteria are on top of thier mind:-
convenience of use and protection, economics, and flexibility.

Interestingly, the males and females are attracted to different factors when choosing a credit card. Females were shown to value the promotional factor more, while males preferred the economic factor.

The following groups in Singapore tends to pay their monthly credit card balances in full:-
higher income earners, the better educated, older adults, females, married, and both Chinese and Indians.