Are We Starting to Put the Credit Card Away?

A recent report has found that Americans, in this time of financial crunch and economic worries, and what is currently a recession that is just yet to be confirmed because all the data needs to be confirmed and compiled, have been forgoeing the credit cards in favor of paying cash for items they need, or not getting them at all. Yes, ironically, Americans are now spending more like they always should have before the recession, because they are shying away from the naughty credit cards that may have helped many get into the situations that started the recession in the first place.

This does come as a surprise, since typically most people tend to whip the credit cards out for necessities in times of economic hardship, simply because they don’t have the cash or the credit lines (non revolving) to pay for the things they need, or need to have done. This current trend of seeing more credit cards being shunned for cash is kind of a perplexing one, since one would think the opposite would be true.

So, it looks like maybe those credit card stocks may not be the best thing to be putting your money in right now, after all, even with the new issuance of the Visa stock, under the stock symbol “V”, which many thought might perform like Mastercard’s stock which multiplied several times since it’s IPO. So, what’s your trend with your credit cards, or are you as snug as a bug in a rug and don’t have to worry about money too much, even when most others are finding that they have to pinch pennies to survive?

I know for me personally, this has not really changed my credit card habit. The only thing different that I do is to use mostly my United airline miles credit card more often, because I try to pay the balance off every month anyways, and I figure at least I’m getting valuable points toward a new exciting trip rather than getting nothing for spending my money, but other than that, my credit card spending has stayed the same, I pretty much just pay it off every month.