Credit cards continue to lose popularity

March 2, 2007

In January there seemed to be a slight decline in credit card application and it seems that the decline has not yet ended.

More and more people are deciding against borrowing on plastic and that has led to quite a decline in credit card applications. Experts are saying that this is due to people becoming more aware of what they are actually spending. They are taking care of their finances and they are thinking twice before borrowing.

However, despite the fall in credit card lending, mortgage borrowing has increased. This means that people are currently more interested in getting on the property ladder, rather than getting themselves into debt on credit cards. That is certainly a good sign, but for how long is it likely to stay that way?

Credit cards are still widely popular and whilst this decline in applications is a good sign, there is still a long way to go before the bad debt problem is solved. There will always be people willing to borrow on credit cards and that is never likely going to change. However if these decreases continue then it will certainly help out with the problem even if it doesn’t solve it.

Whether the decline will continue or not remains to be seen but it is definitely encouraging. It is wise to be putting mortgages in front of credit cards and it does seem that the rise in mortgages and decline in credit cards could be linked. After all, if you are in debt with a credit card, it makes it so much harder to get a mortgage. So it looks like people are being smarter with their money and mortgages are being put first.

All it needs now is for more people to be smart with their money and to think again before applying for a credit card. If they do then the decline in credit cards will continue and perhaps one day in the future, credit cards will not be as in demand as they are today and credit card debt will be a thing of the past.