The financial services industry, now almost totally deregulated, has all shapes and sizes of lenders both traditional players such as commercial banks and credit unions, as well as a whole new breed of players. The easiest ways to increase lender market share are to offer large lines of credit, low teaser rates, and to make loans to those formerly viewed as poor credit risks. Many lenders, especially in the credit card arena, do all three aggressively. The use of credit of all types has climbed sharply. Perhaps nowhere is this development more apparent than in credit card issuance and usage.
Many consumers are more than willing to partake.
Credit card solicitations are arguably the most common piece of snail mail that arrives daily for the typical American consumer. U.S. corporations are also guilty of using debt more aggressively. The majority of Americans are in better overall financial shape today than 10 years ago. A full employment economy, rising stock prices, climbing home values, and solid growth in real incomes of the past few years have helped most people. Little to lose if you just walk away Many of us do use selected credit cards more than before.