Journal of Management and Marketing Research
Consumers and credit cards: A review of the empirical literature
Phylis M. Mansfield Penn State University – Erie Mary Beth Pinto Penn State University – Erie Cliff A. Robb University of Alabama ABSTRACT Research in the area of consumer credit card attitude and behavior has provided an abundance of literature in the business, psychology, and public policy fields. Beginning in the 1960s, the work revolved around descriptive characteristics and evolved as scholars probed deeper by investigating relationships between credit cards and psychological constructs, and the onships need for consumer policy. While the scope of credit card research has broadened, there is a need to pause and reflect on
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The senior citizen market has also captured the attention of credit card marketers due to its impressive size and buying power. Various reasons have been offered for this rising trend in senior citizen credit card debt and bankruptcy, including increased health care costs, gambling, lower interest rates on investment, the loss of jobs before planned retirement, and low retirement income (Dellutri, 2010). Another population of concern is the non-traditional consumer, such as developmentally-disabled individuals. In the late 1990s marketers were criticized for their predatory activities directed toward this segment of vulnerable consumers in an attempt to gain more market share (Cahill, 1998). Other than the work of Mansfield and Pinto (2008), there has been a lack of empirical studies with developmentallydisabled individuals due to the problem of inaccessibility. These social and economic concerns have raised the level of awareness that credit cards have both positive and negative consequences for individual consumers and for society as a whole.
Journal of Management and Marketing Research PURPOSE It was not until the late 1960s that consumer credit cards became a topic of academic research, appearing in the business literature. The early work revolved around descriptive literature. characteristics: number of cards and credit card usage (Hirschman, 1979; Hirschman & (Hirschman, Goldstucker, 1978; Plummer, 1971; Slocum & Mathews, 1970; Wise, Brown, & Cox,
James D Scurlock’s “Maxed Out” focused on the revolving use of credit cards to charge now and pay later and the fact that once the credit card was maxed out another one was sent from the credit card companies and the whole process begins all over again. Scurlock’s essay made the reader aware of the downfalls and hardships that can occur when credit cards are constantly used for purchases compared to Kevin O’Donnell’s “Why Won’t Anyone give Me a Credit Card”.
Purchaser saving money (credit card) is presently one of the key branches in managing an account arrangement of Pakistan. Since most recent couple of years, decrease in credit card utilization has been seen (Dawn, 2014) Consumers are more pulled in towards charge cards when contrasted with Visas and purchasers feel hesitant in utilizing the Visas. In fourth quarter of FY2013-2014 the credit cards showed a significant drop of 11.4% and 14.40% (from 1,270,775 to 1,087,772) in first quarter of Fiscal Year (2014-2015). This exploration is centered around the recognizable proof of components like demographics, religious conviction, expense and mindfulness as boundary in adjustment of charge cards
Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris, both diligent entrepreneurs, started laying the bricks for their eventual successful company, Capital One, in the late 1980’s. They both worked in the Virginia-based “Signet Bank”. Fairbank started noticing trends in the financial industry that he felt Signet was missing out on. These opportunities were in the credit card industry. He, as well as all of Signet Bank knew that the credit card industry was very risky, but Fairbank was ready to take a chance in this, what can be, highly profitable field.
Attitudes about spending changed drastically. At this point, more people had access to credit cards because credit card companies stopped limiting their customer base to the wealthy, and began issuing cards to people with moderate to low incomes (Garon, 2012, CNN World). This gave Americans a way to purchase goods and services immediately, even if they didn’t have the cash on hand. The seven to eight percent savings rate maintained in the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s plummeted to less than two percent, and remained so until the first decade of the 21st century (Melicher & Norton, 2014, p. 168).
Not only for those seeking to retire, the business motivated economy has transfigured how one must live in order to live comfortably. Building credit through credit cards is often perceived to be the only way in order for a buyer to appear credible. Yet in the quest for the optimal credit score people enter into debt. Considering and evaluating the risks and benefits to credit cards may contribute to opinions towards those flimsy pieces of plastic.
Evaluation: This article, posted on April 1, 2016, was originally published on TheConversation.com. Throughout the article, the author cites sources that come from 2012-2017, with the majority of them coming from 2015-2016. Moreover, these cited websites are credible, well-known, and have information that can be corroborated with other sources. Some of these sites included The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and a report from the Federal Reserve. Moving on, the author, Mechele Dickerson, is an expert on this topic. Dickerson received both her B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University and currently works as a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin. Here, she teaches classes on consumer law, debt and spending to law and undergraduate students. In her current research, she explores causes and consequences of consumer debt and how the culture
With religion playing an important role in the average Americans lives, consumerism began to grow in the white and blue-collar workers. Their families started to spend extra cash instead of saving it. Washing machines, dryers, and new cars became commonly bought items. The Homeowner who needed some extra cash, but couldn’t work enough hours to purchase that item when he needed it, started to use personal credit. This began the craze of credit cards. ”The Diner Club” introduced the first credit card in 1950: By the 1970s the ubiquitous plastic credit card had revolutionized personal and family finance”(Henretta, pg.790). The awareness of addition free time was aware
According to a report, twenty-four states have attempted to pass legislation limiting credit card marketing at colleges. Only Louisiana, Arkansas, New York, and West Virginia have been successful. Where legislatures and governors have faltered, colleges have picked up the cause. West Virginia University banned credit card rewards altogether. The University of Minnesota banished credit card companies from campus grounds. Although, large public campuses are having a challenging time handling the credit card campus “bug”; small, private, and liberal arts colleges are running a more effective campaign against the card companies. Their smaller campuses and hefty private school tuitions decrease the incentive to have card companies fill their bank accounts (Par.
On a periodic basis, the Federal reserve releases key statistics related to credit card debt in America. With almost 2,000,000,000 credit cards in use while in the hands of almost 200,000,000 individual credit card holders, there is no denying the popularity of these little pieces of plastic. Through May of 2015, Americans were responsible for $901 billion in credit
The article is about why young Americans (millennials) are afraid of credit cards, and why they do not use them. Americans with credit card debt under the age of thirty-five has dropped to the lowest since 1989. Since the financial disaster in 2008, older Americans have lowered their credit card debt. However, millennials’ credit card debt has dropped faster than any other age group. Young people became scared of credit cards because they do not want to owe money to companies like their parents were or are. If millennials continue to use credit cards less, this will hurt the economy’s growth and the financial system. Since millennials refrain from using credit cards, they will lose out on building credit. Building credit brings advantages like
Whilst a critical part of consumer spending, credit card companies are constantly accused of malicious legal contracts and schemes to increase profits. Without heavy regulation, these companies have the power to bankrupt millions of Americans that rely on credit cards in their daily lives. However, after the introduction of The Credit Card Act of 2009, these accusations represent an inability to accept responsibility for financial blunders on the consumer’s behalf. Due largely in part to the government’s strict regulations, credit card companies should not be at fault for the student credit card debt crisis. Credit card companies remain blameless for student credit card debt as a result of
“The average American owns 3.5 credit cards and $15,799 in credit card debt… totaling consumer debt of $2.43 trillion in the USA alone.” (Beckner). Debt forces many people into depression and worrying lives. People struggle to discover happiness through financing goods, but struggle even more to find a way out of debt. Through consumerism, people lose their finances in department stores, car dealerships, and much more. Most of the possessions people buy with credit cards become impractical within a few months. The void they search for is never really filled. Consumerism is just a way to get the economy going, without thinking of a person’s individual finance
In today’s economy, cash or a credit card is needed to meet the basic human needs. It is an apparent fact that we need cash or credit cards to purchase items such as food, clothing, and to buy gas. Also, when you are out shopping and discover that you have used all the cash in your possession, it is then that you realize that the advantage of having a credit card. Furthermore, with cash, you are restricted to the amount in your wallet or purse; however, a credit card allows you to pay for your purchase at a later date. Both cash and credit cards can be useful when you manage them wisely. While cash and credit cards are similar in that they both are readily accessible, used for goods and services at the time of purchase, they are dissimilar because of theft, high- interest rates, identity theft.
The question of whether credit card companies should market on campuses or not, brings many different opinions, some of which are driven by personal experience and some that are driven by profit. There are those who do not agree with this because they know what they have gone through with credit card debt. There are also those who say they should market on campus because they are adults and contribute to the company’s profit. Even though students are adults and need to earn credit, credit card companies should not market to college students on campus because they are too naive and this results in graduating with too much debt.
This case study included information on a sample of fifty credit card accounts. This information, table one, included household size, annual income, and the amount charged to the account. Scatter plots of the data were produced. Figure one shows household size vs. amount charged. This graph shows that the positive linear relationship of the data is somewhat strong. The r squared is 0.56, analyzing the graph there is a correlation of household size to amount charged, but there is a range per household size.