The total balances on retail-issued credit cards has crossed $56bn, a year-over-year increase of over 6.4%.
Equifax chief economist Amy Crews Cutts said, "Retail cards are a great way to do both. Retailers can leverage these cards to drive traffic to their stores through special offers to cardholders and can encourage larger purchases by offering favorable interest-rate promotions for big ticket items.
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"As long as consumers resist the urge to overspend, these cards can be a great way to save money when holiday shopping."
During January-August of 2013, the total limit of new credit issued increased 11.6% to $46.6bn, compared with the same period last year. About 24.6 million new card accounts were issued an increase of 8.8% from last year.
In terms of bank-issued credit, the total limit of new credit issued increased 9.1% to $128.7bn, from $117.9bn a year ago. Number of new loans year-to-date in August is 27.6 million, a 7.3% rise from last year.
The firm’s report also showed that the number of loans for Auto segment in October was a five year high at nearly 62 million.
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By GlobalDataIn Home Finance sector, the total balance of first mortgages in October 2013 is $7.6trn, a decrease of 1.7% from same time a year ago. In October, the total balance of home equity revolving loans dropped 7.3% to $494.1bn.
